[inaudible conversations] . >> thanks for coming over this event.

so giving a bunch of speeches in manila. in we did some traveling around. while we were there. and working upon the spy is mitt in there have been a number of books. and the other people that say okay. balsas to say i have the diary. in coming down in the last two years we have all the papers and as well as the papers of john boone. so can you raise your hand?.

>> iso glad she came down. so it is a thrill for all of us to have to hear. >> two years in the making and here we are. i will let him to you the story. and without any further waiting. [applause] >> thank you very much for being here when you are introduced by jim you have the feeling he could do the presentation better than you could. so given the fact he is not i will do my best but will not be quite as good because

gm has been great to make these things happen. but being there at the macarthur memorial is a special thrill for me because part of my story comes from working at the memorial going through the archives trying to put together the true story of these heroes fighting in the philippines 1942 through 45. is a great pleasure. but there is a sense there is a scholarly peas of the story which i will not delve into too much but with luck

i have been able to develop information nobody has seen before. that information will be held here at the memorial so if any other researcher wants to see that they have it. it is a great pleasure at the same time allow the story to be available to a general audience. so others that may be interested in world war two may think about general macarthur and have an idea put they are and what this story is about. but first primarily the book is about clear phillips a nightclub singer from

portland oregon coming to manila on december 81941 was of day of infamy. they bombed the philippines. and within three weeks the japanese were marching into new manila and the philippines clerc ran off to the hills as some percentage of the of population and then finding himself some ways but the other two people that i write about is

also in manila, one of them is john boone is a corporal in the army, and retreated with general macarthur around christmas eve 1941 and realize that it is impossible to defend manila and 35,000 odd american troops and 60,000 odd filipino troops for the u.s. army retreated to japan and then fought ferociously -- ferociously for months with no supplies hoping they would arrive and reinforcements never came and they surrendered april

april 1942. but john boone unlike many people that surrendered ran up to the hills and tried to put together what he would do next so that is the second person in the third person was chip parsons the expatriate american from tennessee living most of his life in manila and when the war broke out in the secret was out only with a the military and the commander said raise your right hand you are back in the navy. over the next months as a secret u.s. by operated in

the philippines and thinking he could gather up significant information ending up in manila and writing off on the exchange ship right under the nose of the japanese supposedly has day panamanian council so the u.s. navy officer speaking only spanish bordet's ship as of panamanian consul and

escapes to fight another day so that is a third person you will read about will talk to much about them as there are secrets to be told but chairpersons is so fascinating and started to write a separate magazine piece and one of the great unsung heroes of world war two as far as i am concerned why did i write this book? i have been fascinated on world war ii for a long time those that i can identify with more than ever for those bad people that must

we vanquished. you don't usually see that much of an obvious story. in which people have to come together to fight. my first two books was about fighting in europe and an american pilot shot down over belgium since 1943 rescue by a bunch of young women and nursed back to health running across belgium's through france and escapes to spain to fight another day. is the amazing escape line better mostly still teenagers better under cover for freedom.

the next one is a just a whit -- a jazz to which a journalist to help the pope pius 11 to challenge some that anti-semitism but his attempt to try to stop hitler at the start of world war two. there is a theme and everything that i do. for people that our central to tell a larger story. that is the case. after i finish the second book i said it is about time to face facts and one other reason is my dad fought in the pacific in world war ii

and like so many people of the greatest generation, he told about the funny parts. and wanted to learn more about what that meant. what about the philippines? that brought me to the philippines. a friend of mine gave me a book called ghost soldiers the story of the rescue of the survivors. and describes women who are helping smuggle food and supplies and life-saving medicine into the pow camp

where those death march people are held. and i read a description of the woman who was described as the most intriguing and mysterious woman in the most important to supply these life-saving food and medicine to the prisoner. who is this woman in what can i find out? i found out she had written a memoir and there was a movie made about her. it did not seem to work for me very well. are around that time i said the wonder of the macarthur

memorial would have some information? there isn't that much information most of that is contained that was written to her during the war but i still was not satisfied in for a couple of years i searched and finally found that document clerc was a master of deception before and during and after the war married three times while still a teenager. i the issue was only divorced twice at most of those three marriages. it makes me think of the line in "casablanca" where she says or like to think that you killed a man and it is a fact one of the husband disappears from the

historical records after they're married so we don't know. showing up in the philippines claims she was married more times than she was but on one of the last names of her marriages to realize there is a massive court case about her attempt to get restitution for fighting the japanese am providing supplies and in that court case it is indicated that she only one as small amounts of money, less than $2,000 she asked for about 148,000 price will -- i searched and

found an index card they said there is nothing more. going to downtown washington d.c. and basically went on in bonn and finally the hour cabellas today is the computer said a finitude -- nor to look he went back into the entrails of the archives for thought it was the last scene of indiana jones a warehouse of boxes because finally he comes back with a dusty box and here it is. it is 2,000 pages of court testimony on the case of

clear violence against the united states. wrapped up in denies ribbon that had been there since 1957 and touched. when i opened it up then a datebook sellout in the was the clear phillips diary. i on all of you can appreciate how i felt at that moment and she did not even know how that was tracked down in court because she was finally arrested by the japanese told her entire story here and really tells a major new

episode of world war ii so then that is the heart of my book for the but then there are connections to john boone the she has been speaking to also amazingly meeting with czech parsons for theirs toward about other people taking care the second the wounded in delivering babies. and for those that they were surviving in afraid the

japanese were interested and . she wasn't living among the filipinos in the bay harbor anger could of been sentenced to death. with april or may of 1942 an american trying to raise a guerrilla army putting contact with john boone and nursed back to health having suffered fighting the japanese is in the guerrilla army starting off with the third year for 40 people and he says the one thing is intelligence.

of you could get back down to manila, we will support you been you can have a career system. within months she opens a nightclub in an october 42 through her arrest may 44 she is entertaining and spying on japanese officers every night and there is whole other group of women's we talking to the soldiers gathering information they have the name of the officer where they came from and where they are going next. finally picking up the

thread of check persons who could sneak out of manila to the panamanian consul what -- consulate takes the boat to avoid japanese encounters even though they have to stay out of the battle zone but finally after four months this ship gets back to new york in arrested by the fbi you are a spy. how did you get out? showing up as a timber 1942 the then comes a terse

telegram from general macarthur and with that u.s. military effort from japan send parsons immediately. and then on a submarine traveling to the philippines the first of many trips and running a guerrilla operation in the philippines . so finally he appears to say he is in town i need to get the stuff to him. it is amazing that connection is finally made

that they were interconnected. there is a lot more to tell you about but i will let you read and ask questions. but i did mention my dad was in the navy he was an ensign 43 and october 20th floor what might have been the largest naval battle in history. at the same kind check persons to do advanced reconnaissance to track

those that he was responsible for that something was about to happen. and in turn decrease japan's ability to respond. so was he is moving from the south check parsons makes people say if blocking things down as well as he could. i found in the national archives and it describes the ship moving into sure dropping of the tanks and then pulling off under heavy fire. in at least some things to check persons to make a better than the rights have

been -- might have been. so that is my own little contact. and they think that is about as much as i can tell you without telling you the entire story. but this is an important part that means very much to be. these americans were among hundreds fighting in the philippines during world war ii. fighting and dying and suffering. by the time of the liberation of manila one

month of battle 100,000 filipinos died. it is the story is not is known as widely as a might have been known. i dedicates everything say to the brave filipinos that fought that war. . .

is come to the microphone which is right here in the middle. >> [inaudible] i read this book -- [laughter] [applause] i appreciate that very much. does anybody have an answer for

my question about where the military burial site is? manila. most people would think normandy would be where most are buried. on my visit after tending the 70th anniversary of the liberation. the 5,000 americans in allied nationals were kept in detention 92 to 1945. up to the u.s. military cemetery i was amazed to find as many as

20,000 people are buried there and it's on a beautiful, terry overlooking manila and if you ever go, one takes pause by going there. >> thanks for writing this book. it is a story that needs to be told. my question is the diary. how dangerous was it during the gulf war and listing names of these folks? >> ultimately it was massively dangerous. she would have been killed claire was arrested in may of

1944 because of a japanese military police upsurge in activity, and they called her and a bunch of allies in for questioning and then torture and imprisonment for ten months. but she didn't know that they were providing information. nevertheless, the nightclub was originally searched just in routine searches and it was never found. it was a kind of deep thought that you might find a in a one by three book that an insurance company might give you a.

the first six months she had it with her and brought it back with her. interestingly enough. it was never found. it was my guess in the book is an interesting possibility of how that was found because there's only two people that might have known where it was and it suddenly appeared in 1955 in the court case.

the fact that it survived into the fact that nobody ever found it during the occupation is remarkable and she certainly would have been dead as soon as it was found. can you tell us about whether you were able to interview folks that knew the central figures

and can you also talk about i know you went to the philippines. can you talk about how five-story comes more to life if you are able to go back to the places the events took place. besides the macarthur memorial and the philippines itself is one excellent thing one could do is to use the internet and i certainly worked on the internet to look for information and as a journalist, a i kind of developed and ability to look where others might not look. it was never known before for instance that claire was married

when she was 16-years-old. and i was able to find her marriage certificates and as i said no birth certificates interestingly enough and i found that those in the public records using the internet to do that. i also went to ucla library to listen to a wonderful audio tape of her being interviewed by ralph edwards on this is your life. this is one that was mentioned that he has produced a video or film of this visit and he was presenting a tour at the end of the broadcast but i couldn't

find. it would have been great to have seen the speaking. i also spoke to the very people that have direct knowledge. one of the people who very kindly gave me everything she could that she knew about her dad's life, he was a wonderful photographer in his later life and i saw some wonderful photographs. i met a woman who was the

daughter of roy c. bennett of the daily news and wrote beautifully about the time and the days leading up to the manila occupation and she gave me some information as well of what life was like from the perspective of a fiber six-year-old girl.

he's been helping me a lot and jim and he and i have frequent triangulated chats about what happened and when. they were shouting banzai and he remembers the 5-year-old boy yelling in return.

what happened to that daughter when she was incarcerated were being held nine or 12 months? there's confusion about who she was a. claire was rather deceptive in her life and sometimes says diane was her natural daughter and other times says that who she married before the war in

manila and finally indicates in the court documents that she was never able to have children herself so diane was not her natural daughter. diane went back with her after the war to portland oregon. it is done in a strange old char romantic 1950s way. even to the point that a little filipino girl transforms into a shirley temple like girl with

flowing curly blond locks in the movie saying mommy and daddy which was not the case. diane basically disappears and i've not been able to track her down. she may still be with us or people who claim to be her daughter or adopted daughter but there was no blood line from claire's site because she wasn't able to have children. basically was focusing on the period of her life under occupation and none of them would have been able to help very much any case.

what was the biggest story that had an impact you on the great depression? >> the impact i walk away from in the buck. i had no idea other than people that might be familiar with the philippines and know the story here in this room, no idea that americans were the guerrillas and the hill in world war ii in the philippines fighting with filipino nationals. you've always think of the opposite. i was impressed with their resourcefulness and ability to survive a to fight the battle

that had to be fought. i had no idea that any of this had taken place. there were chapters in the book which american prisoners were being treated as slaves and are given new clothing and fake guns and are forced to reenact the battle. the ability of these americans to survive. it is really wha a five would probably take away most from a story. >> have you come to the conclusion what he would consider makes a great spy in the context?

>> what makes a great spy, and i think i learned something about that question. a great spy is not necessarily a boy scout or girl scout. it's somebody that has the wherewithal to not only to see but use all of their abilities at the moment to do what they know they have to do. claire phillips was a natural spy. christopher life often not telling the truth but it's pretty much what he wanted and d we are grateful for what she d did. but it doesn't come out of a hollywood movie script so deeply as to say it is a noble perfect

person as always. they had every possible reason not to be doing what they were doing they saw something more important and connected to a higher purpose. that's what i like to write about. the person that reaches a moral moment in their lives and acts on it is what the story is about even if they go down or your life may be lost as a result but still having to fight the fight that's what they were doing.

>> i'm going to be buying your book unless it is over $500,000. i'm interested to know the women that were bringing help, medicine and food, the nationality to connect and the other question is in your research it surprised me hours after pearl harbor. that i don't understand is any of your research hoping to turn any leads on that? >> take it in reverse order. the first question is why were u. s. planes on the ground in 1941 there are lots of ways to answer the question and no one

has a satisfactory answer for the question. general macarthur was responsible for the operations in the philippines and confusingly said that he was not informed well of the impending attack and others say that he was informed and the information should have gone up the line so that he would have known. planes were on the ground when the japanese attacked and u.s. forces that were not very large

on the dozens of planes that were cut in half on the ground that date and made an almost impossible challenge to defend against the japanese. as far as the women that were fighting along with claire phillips, there were many. and it was mentioned in the book another american margaret a. dembski who's been written about their friends and rivals and an interesting relationship between the two of them. i have information about this in the book based on the testimony of the court case in the u.s. court of claims early on working

with the red cross is providing food, medicine and they worked together often. there were many filipino women working with them also testifying and mention in the buck. investigatory and also into the pow camps to make that happen. some were arrested, some died, some survived. but it was a remarkable case of bravery on behalf of all these women against the great

possibility they could have been caught and killed at any beautiful moment. >> do you believe that the three you talk about in the book are appropriately at some point appropriately honored by the government and if so, how, and if they weren't in your estimation, what would that look like? >> the question is do i think that claire phillips, john thune and check up our sins were appropriately honored? in many ways they were honored. john thune was highly decorated

and proud and went back to fight in the korean war and had a great career no doubt honored and respected for what he did. there were many high honors, bronze star, other awards of valor and was honored by the philippine government and very proud that he was finally offered and received citizenship as a philippine national which he is very proud of. but i'm trying to do is say these people deserve to be known

it for me that would be the greatest honor to look at what they did and how they work together to india to the japanese across the pacific. so my goal is to just raise consciousness and also tell a great story about some brave people, so let's continue to honor them i would say. >> she's told me stories about the filipino girl and that she paused beside him out in the jungles and assisted with this i call it the spy triangle. did you find any information on her or about their relationship?

the first child was born in the jungles and her mother used to tell her that she hoped john thune to bring together into that networking was very helpful. i was curious if you found anything where she was also involved in the end of the spying or transferring of messaging. >> the question is about the helper and eventual wife very well known as nelly and they met in the hills 1942, 1943 and she

began to be one of the main careers of intelligence information and supplies between claire phillips and john boone in the hills. finally they realized they were more than just boss and courier and they fell in love. i tell the story of their wedding in the book and pretty soon she was pregnant and wasn't traveling any more down to manila. it wasn't a wise thing to be doing. but they have definitely an important relationship the three of them in moving information back and forth. one wishes that she would have

lived longer so they could have written a memoir that the two of them intended to write, which would have been more wonderful for all of us because we would have done a much more of those details. but it's a rich story which these people risked everything to be able to provide intelligence and food and supplies to fight the japanese. >> i wanted to mention that i brought along something of a gift for john boone's daughter. i will tell her what it is. it's not been seen since 1957. it's the testimony of her father

is fighting to work as a guerrilla fighter describing his work with claire phillips and describing the engagement with fighting the japanese one state return and it really is material that has to be added to the history books because it hasn't been seen before. the entire file is going to be part of the archives of the macarthur memorial. [applause]

>> i think it's time. i'm very emotional right now. i wasn't expecting this. thank you so much. [applause] thanks very much for coming. i appreciate it. [applause] up next on booktv afterwards program journalist cheryl