correspondent takes a look at plots to assassinate hitler in the book "agent 110. >> welcome. we think c-span for coming out as well. for this macarthur spies less

big event of the summer. peter eisner, couple of years ago i was given a bunch of speeches in manila and ran across the former national post writer, peter eisner. we did traveling to the philippines. while there, i was there to speak into her computer was working on a new book about spies in manila. one of the main ones being "cleaclear phillips" but then he said i have his diary. so that feeds into a lot. pete came down quite a lot over the past two years because we have all the papers of chick, one of the main characters of the story as well as the papers

of john boone's who is a big griller, his daughter is here with us tonight. recently. [applause] i'm so glad that she came down because it's my first chance to meet her and she donated the papers a long time ago. to throw for all of us to have you here. but pete's work is now finished. two years in the macon and here we are with a great piece. so, going to let him come up and tell you the story he has to tell. without further waiting, pete eisner, "macarthur spies. [applause] >> thank you for being here. i have to say, when you're introduced by jim, you have the feeling that he could do the presentation better than you

could, so given the fact that he's not doing it, i'll do my best but it's not going to be quite as good. jim really has been to so many writers a great help in making these things happen. i'm deeply appreciative being here at the macarthur memorial is a special thrill for me. part of my story comes from working here's jim said at the memorial looking through the archives and trying to put together the true story of these heroes fighting in the philippines from 1942 - 1945. so, it's a great pleasure, the same time, i'm trying to reach to audiences by being here because there's a sense in which there's a scholarly piece of the story which i'm not going to

delve into too much, but with luck i've been able to develop some information that nobody seen before. that information will now be held here at the macarthur memorial so that any other researcher wants to see the material i have found, they haven't. it's a great pleasure to do that. at the same time, i wanted the story to be available to a general audience so that others, beyond those who may be very interested in world war ii, who may be thinking about general macarthur just to have an idea of who these people were and what the story is all about. it's a remarkable group of people. first, primarily the book is about clear phillips.

claire was a nightclub singer from portland oregon. she came to manila, she found herself in manila on december 8, 1941. which some of you may know was the day of infamy because of the international date line. hours after japanese bombed pearl harbor they bombed the philippines. within three weeks, japanese were merchant it to manila and occupied manila and the rest of the philippines for three years. claire ran off to the hills and is some percentage of the population of manila did, went to petan and, for the first time found herself. that story i developed this

book. the other two people i write about are also in manila on december 8, 1941. one is john boone. he was a corporal in the army. he retreated with general macarthur around christmas eve, 1941 because general macarthur realized to be impossible to defend manila and declared it an open city. about 35000 some odd american troops and about 60000 some odd filipino troops for all purposes of the u.s. army, retreated and then fought ferociously for months with no supplies, hoping supplies would arrive in reinforcements never came and they surrendered in april 1942

and they surrendered a month later. john boone, unlike many people that surrendered ran off to the hills separate from these units and tried to put together what he would do next. that is the second person in my story. the third person in my story is a man named chick parsons. chick was next patriot american from tennessee. had been living most of his life in manila and when the world war broke out he was called in to military headquarters and the secret was out that only in the u.s. military all the while he had been in the u.s. navy reserve and the commander said, raise your right hand, you're back in the navy. he then, for the next months as

a secret u.s. spy, operated in the philippines under the nose of the japanese, thinking that he would be able to gather up significant information and not knowing what to do next. historians in manila in june of 1942, running off on an exchange ship because he was able to come his way out of manila, right under the nose of the japanese with his family as supposedly, counsel to the philippines. so, u.s. navy officer, speaking only spanish from january to june of 1942 he boards a ship as a panamanian counsel in a

diplomatic exchange escapes to fight another day. so, his the third person they'll be reading about in the book. i'm not going to talk as much about each of these people, their secrets to be told, and read the book. all say that chick is such a fascinating person that i've started writing a separate magazine about him that will come out in the smithsonian in the fall. he's one of the great unsung who heroes of world war ii. i'd like to back up and say, why did i write this book? i have been fascinated by world war ii for a long time. i think it's space so my feeling that it's a story we can identify with more than ever because it's absolute good fighting the good fight against

bad people that must be vanquish. it's -- you don't usually see that much of an obvious story in which people have to come together and fight a bad force and win, or else. my first two books were about fighting in europe. one was called the freedom line, it was about an american pilot that shut down over belgium in 1943. rescued by a bunch of young women, nursed back to health, hidden as he runs across belgium through france finally escapes to spain to fight another day. the story is an amazing scape line with young people, mostly

still teenagers fighting undercover for freedom. the next one was about a jesuit who, an american jesuit journalist who was brought in to help pope pius the 11th before the start of world war ii, to challenge hitler, whistling, and anti-semitism. it's his attempt, and the pope's last attempt to try to stop hitler before the start of world war ii. there's a theme and everything i do. i look for people that are not central, not the great figures and use lesser-known figures to tell larger story. that was the case in the stories. after i finished the second book, i said it's about time to

face facts. one other reason i'm interested in world war ii is because my dad fought in the pacific in world war ii. like so many people we have heard of the greatest generation, he was just like that, he didn't talk about it much. when he talked about he talked about the funny parts of the tough parts. i wanted to learn more about what that meant, what was really going on. and i said what about turning to the pacific in the philippines. all i knew was my dad had fought the battle of the lite golf and i didn't know what that meant. that brought me to the philippines. a friend of mine give me a book, wonderful book called ghost soldiers. it's a story of a rescue of the survivors of the petan death march. in that book, hampton describes a group of women who are helping smuggle food and supplies and

life-saving medicine into the pow camp where the surviving death march people were held. in there, i read a description of a woman codenamed high pockets who is described as the most intriguing, mysterious women in the most important women in supplying these life-saving goods, foods and medicines to the prisoners. and i said, who is this woman, what can i find out about her. i looked her up on the internet and found out she hadn't written a memoir. i found out there is a movie made about her. all of what i read did not seem to quite work for me well. around that time i said, i

wonder if the macarthur memorial would had information about her. i came down and the first thing i did was find it there is not that much information about her. most was contained in letters that john boone had written to her during the war. but, i wasn't satisfied. for a few years i searched and finally i found a document. it was not easy to find. claire was a master of deception before, during, and after the war. she actually was married three times so she was still a teenager. i think she was only devoured divorced twice of those three marriages. it makes me think of a line in casablanca, where claude rains says, i would like to think you killed the man in fact, one of

the husbands disappears from the historic records after their marriage. so, we don't know. but she showed up in the philippines and she then married a couple more times and claims she was very more times and she was. finally found a document on one of the last names of one of her marriages and realized there had been a massive court case about her attempts to get restitution after the war for fighting the japanese in providing supplies. in that court case, it indicated that only she had one a small amount of money, less than $2000 after she asked for hundred and $48000. nothing more. i searched and basically was

operating in the national archives. i found an index card that indicated there should be more about her and they said no, not here go to the main office downtown d.c. i went there and they said no we don't have it. maybe such and such a person will find it. it went on and on. didn't seem like i would find anything of finally an archivist who didn't use a computer said, i think i know where to look. he had me sit down and we went to the entrails of the archives and i felt like we are operating the last scene of indiana jones. like there must've been this amazing warehouse of boxes, dusty boxes. and finally came back with a dusty box and said, here it is.

a trove of 2000 pages of court testimony on the case of claire phillips against the united states, wrapped up in a ribbon that have been there since 1957, untouched. when i opened it up suddenly, little datebook fell out of the folder. i opened it and it was clear phillips diary. i don't know if you can appreciate how i felt at that moment. it was something that had never been seen. she didn't even know when it was presented in the court held could've been tracked down. she had been finally arrested by the japanese. but here it was. it told her entire story,

unadorned and really tells the major new episode in many ways so what happened in world war ii. so that becomes the heart of my book. but as i read the book i realize there are other connections to the other two people, john boone who she has been speaking to and also amazingly, that she is in touch to some degree with chick parsons. here's what happens. claire phillips was in petan in the first months of the war. for the first time she was worrying about other people rather than herself. she was taking care of the sick, shoes taking care of the wounded she was delivering babies, she was trying to survive herself. the disease and the conditions

that people were surviving in the hills of petan were terrible. people that were afraid the japanese would come and arrest them much less the problem that claire was an american, she was living among filipinos. anybody can might have been harboring her could have been sentenced to death for doing that. someone once said around may of 1842, there's an american trying to raise a grill army. maybe you would like to meet him. she then is put in contact with john boone. john boone, nursed back to health and having suffered all those months fighting the japanese is in fact raising a grill army. it starts out with ten, 3040,

people and finally hundreds. he said the one thing we need is intelligence. if you can get back down to bonilla, we will support you getting back down there and then you can provide intelligence to us and create a system. she heads back down to manila, within months she is open and not club and from october 1942 until her arrest in may of 1944, she is entertaining and spying on officers every night. and she has raised a group of other women were sweet talking the soldiers in gathering information at the end of the night. they collate with the god, name of prisoner, name of officer, where they came from and where they're going next. excellent intelligence and then sending it into the hills.

finally, picking up the threat of chick parsons who has been able to sneak out of manila as the panamanian council to the country panama takes a slow boat avoiding japanese -- avoiding japanese encounters, even though i exchange ship they have to stand up battle zones in the ship, finally after four months where he's immediately arrested by the fbi saying, you must be a spy, how did you get out. finally that's settled and he shows up in washington in september 1942. in short order, general macarthur new him before the were finds out the he's alive, safe and in washington.

then comes a terse telegram from general macarthur who, is by now retreated to australia, reorganizing the u.s. military effort against japan, that messages, send parsons immediately. parsons is back in australia and that on a submarine traveling to the philippines, the first of many trips and running a grill operation in the philippines on behalf of macarthur throughout the war. finally, chick parsons appears in the diarrhea saying, parsons is in town, i have to put down everything else and get stuff to him.

it's amazing the connection was finally made that these three people were interconnected. there's more to tell you about in that book, but i will let you read and ask questions about the details. i mention that my dad was in the navy. he was on -- a 1942 in 1943 on into 1944. on october 20, 1944 his lst was sailing toward lite golf to a became what might've been the largest naval battle in world history. at the same time, chick parsons had been sent by the u.s. military command to do advance were, cognizance to track where

japanese placements were, to make the guerrillas that parsons was responsible for aware that something was about to happen. and in turn decrease japan's ability to respond and also keep it secret what would happen at the same time. as my dad is moving on lst 463 for the south with a bunch of other ships, chick parsons is making those people safe by blocking things down as well as he could. i found in the national archives my dad's deck logs in the morning of october 20. it describes the ship moving towards show, dropping off tanks and men and them pulling off under heavy fire which i can

imagine, i have some small thanks to chick parsons for having made it better than it might've been, hadn't the surprise been captain had it the united states known for the japanese gun placements were. it's my only contact with the story. i think that's about as much as i might tell you about it without telling you the entire story. other than to say that there is an important part of the story that means something very much to me. these americans are right about, were among hundreds of americans fighting in the philippines during world war ii. there fighting with tens of thousands of filipinos who were surviving the occupation, fighting, dying, and suffering, by the time of the liberation of

manila in 1945, march 3, 1945, a month of battle, 100,000 filipinos died, mostly civilians. it's a story not known as broadly as it might be no. so, dedicated this book and i dedicate everything i say about this story to the brave filipinos that fought that were suffered more than most. that's the basis of the story. i think i have an interesting question to ask which you can win a barbette. of all of the u.s. military cemeteries overseas, where would be the u.s. military cemetery with the most people buried?

where most of those people buried? that's the first question. you can ask questions be on that. thank you for being here. it's my pleasure to speak with you. >> will now have a question and answer time. if you have a question please come to the microphone which is here in the middle. >> i read the book and it outstanding. [applause] >> thank you. i appreciate the kind of praise.

thank you. does anybody have an answer to my question about where the military burial site is? manila. most people would think that normandy would be where the most americans were buried after world war ii. in fact, on my visit to manila after attending the 70th anniversary of its liberation, santo tomas university were up to 5000 americans another allied nationals were kept in detention from january 1942 to februar february 1945, i went from santo

tomas up to the military cemetery and i was amazed to find as many as 20000 people are buried there. it's on a beautiful area overlooking manila. if you ever go, one takes pause by going there. >> thank you for writing the book. i think it's a story that needs to be told. sounds like you done a great job so far. my question is her diary, how dangerous was it for her to have this diary during the war? i'm listing names? >> so how dangerous was it for claire phillips to have this diary and keep the diary? ultimately, it was massively dangerous. if the japanese ever found her diary, she would have been killed.

claire was arrested in may 1944 because of the japanese military police upsurge in activity. they called her and a bunch of allies in for questioning and then torture and imprisonment. she was imprisoned for ten months. but, they thought that she was smuggling. they did not know she was providing information to the guerrillas. nevertheless, her room at her nightclub was occasionally searched. just in routine searches. the diary was never found. the diary was the kind of datebook you might find pre-internet like the one by three book that a bank or insurance company might give you at the start of the year.

as she scribbled and scrawled its into this and then hit it someplace. for the first six months she had it with her, she brought it back with her and when she was in her nightclub she had a hiding place for. interestingly enough, she was arrested in may 1944, there's a final bittersweet entry and it which says, waiting for my call to school. which was her coat for saying, they are coming to get me. she had the chance to flee and she didn't. it was hidden someplace and it was never found. my guess in the book is told, and it's an interesting possibility about how that was found. there are only two people that might have known where it was. suddenly reappeared in 1955 in

the court case that she was fighting against the united states to get restitution for the money she spent. the court testimony when the government produces this diary, she had not seen it in nine years and had no idea where it may have come from. a newspaper article said, somebody founded in a bar, not likely. so the diary, the fact that it survived in the fact nobody ever found it during the occupation is remarkable. she certainly would have been dead had it been found. >> can you talk a little bit about, you're ready mention about how you came here and went to the national archives.

can you talk about other places you went to to piece the story together. can you tell us if you are able to interview folks who knew these three central figures? and also i know you went to the philippines, k talk about how the story comes more to life if you're able to go back to the actual places with these events took place? >> so the question, what other places did i go in the course of developing the story besides the macarthur memorial in the philippines itself. these days, one excellent thing you can do this use the internet. i worked on the internet to look for information. as a journalist, i kind of developed an ability to look

where others might not look. it was never known before that claire was married when she was 16 years old, again when she was 18 and then 19. i was able to find her marriage certificates and i say said, no divorce certificates. actually found those in public records using the internet to do that. i also went to ucla libraries to listen to a wonderful audiotape of her being interviewed by ralph everts on, this is you. the last year it was a radio show not a television show. one of the missing links is that ralph edwards, in the audio mentions that he has produced a video or film of this visit and

he was presenting it to her at the end of the broadcast. but, cannot find that. it would've been great to seen her speaker rather than listening to her speak. i went to a number places like that. i was in touch with portland oregon library. as in touch with several other university libraries and was able to slowly pieces together. i also spoke to the very few people that have direct knowledge of some of the people i wrote about. one of whom is jean boone, one of the children of john who very kindly gave me everything she could that she knew about her dad's life. here's wonderful photographer and i saw some wonderful photographs. that was great. when i was in the philippines i met a woman who was the daughter

of roy bennett who is the great newspaper editor of the manila daily news and wrote beautifully about the time before the war. in the days leading up to the middle occupation. she gave me information as well was able to discuss what life was like from the perspective of a five or 6-year-old girl. in this untold thomas detention center. the story is quickly going beyond first-person.

the other person i spoke to my continue to speak to is peter parsons, the son of chick persons who is a wonderful filmmaker in its own right, western some documentaries about his dad and has been helping me. jim, he and i have frequent triangulated chats about what happened when. peter remembers the day when he was five years old and the japanese came marching in and the japanese were yelling bonsai. and you remembers a 5-year-old boy yelling in return, bonsai, bonsai, back at them. so i had a few people but mostly this was an archival attempt.

>> sitting claire phillips have a daughter? what happened to that daughter when she was incarcerated or being held by -- for nine or ten minutes? >> claire phillips had a foster daughter named diane. there's a lot of confusion about who she was and when she came. she was about two years old when the japanese invaded. claire carried her with her to between, over the course of the years, claire, for not getting the point claire was rather deceptive, perfect for spy but also deceptive in her life. sometime she said that diane was her natural daughter, other time she said she was the daughter of one of her husbands who she had

married before the war in manila. finally, she indicates 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. claire got all sorts of accolades and after her memoir came out the movie came out i should say the movie, i was an american spy is really a poor attempt to tell her story and done really in a strange, ultra romantic 1950s way that had little to do with who she was and what was going on. even to the point that little diane who was certainly a filipino girl, transforms into a

shirley temple like girl with flowing, curly, blonde locks in the movie. insane mommy, mommy, mommy, daddy, daddy, daddy, which was not the case. diane basically disappears. i have not been able to track her down. she may still be with us and people who claim to be her daughter or adopted daughter, but there is no bloodline from clear side because she is not able to have children. she did have two sisters. basically i was focusing on the time of claire's life under occupation. none of them would've been able to help me in the story. diane has not been tracked down as far as i know.

>> i was wondering if you could share part of the story that had the biggest impact on you? >> the greatest impact that i walk away with from the book. i would say really i had no idea, and other than people that might be familiar with the philippines and know the story in this room, no idea that americans were the guerrillas in the hills of world war ii in the philippines, fighting with filipino nationals. yours think of the opposite. of the americans fighting the guerrillas. this was the opposite. i was impressed about with their resourcefulness and their ability to survive.

with their strong sense of patriotism to fight a battle that had to be fought. i had no idea that any of this had taken place. there are chapters in the book in which american prisoners were being treated as slaves suddenly are giving new clothing and fake guns, and are forced to reenact the battle of petan for a japanese film crew. the ability of these americans to survive in the suffering that they and their filipino allies went through was really probably what i take away most story.

>> have you concluded what makes a great spy? >> the question is, what makes a great spy. i think i learned something about that question. a great spy is not necessarily of boy scout or girl scout, somebody that has the wherewithal to not only deceive, but to use all of their abilities at the moment to do what they know they have to do. claire phillips was a natural spy. the rest of her life she was a deceptive person, often not telling the truth. but it's pretty much what we wanted and were grateful for what she did.

but it doesn't come out of a hollywood movie script so neatly as to say that a spy is a noble, perfect person and always. all of these people had their fears, had every possible reason not to be doing what they were doing. but, they saw something more important. they connected themselves to a higher purpose. and they found themselves. that's what i like to write about. a person that reaches the moral moment in their lives and ask on it. that's what the stories about. finding your moment, acting with it, and trying to succeed, even if you fear that you may go down very your life may be lost as a result, but still having to

fight the fight. that's what the spies were doing. >> i'm interested to know and i'll be buying the book, unless it's over $500,000. i'm interested to know about the women, ladies that were bringing help, medicine, food, their nationality or connection to claire. the other question, in your research, it surprised me that there was aircraft on the ground that were destroyed before they even got into the air hours after pearl harbor. that i don't understand. did any of your research turn any leaves on that? >> will take it in reverse order. the first question, why were u.s. planes on the ground on

december 8, 1941. there are lots of ways to answer the question and no one has a satisfactory answer, general macarthur was responsible for all u.s. military operations in the philippines. and confusingly he said that he was not informed well of the impending japanese attack on the philippines. and others say that he was informed in the information should have gone up the line so he would have known. it is never clearly known why the planes were on the ground. some planes to fly that day and some bombers went to formosa, now taiwan. they came back for refueling and

planes from the ground when the japanese attack. u.s. forces which were not for a large and the dozens of planes were cut in half on the ground that day. they made an almost impossible challenge to defend against the japanese even more difficult after half the planes were gone. nobody has an answer as to why that happened. general macarthur has one, many others have other answers about why that may have been the case. as for as the woman fighting along with claire phillips, there were many. there mentioned in the book, one was another american, margaret who has been written about quite a bit. they were friends and rivals, an interesting relationship between the two. i have new information about peggy and the book based on her testimony at the court case in

the u.s. court of claims. early on working with the red cross she was providing food, medicine, and she was a nurse to the men of petan. they work together often. there are many filipino women there were working and also testifying in mentioned in the book. as claire one point mentioned, doing much more difficult work than even she was doing because they were constantly bringing supplies right through japanese lines and struggling material into guerrilla territory and also into the pow camps to make that happen. some were arrested, some die, some survive. it was a remarkable case of bravery on behalf of all of

these women against daunting odds and against the great possibility that they could've been caught and killed at any moment. >> do believe the three talk about in this book were appropriately, at some point honor by the government, and if so, how. if they weren't in your estimation, what would that look like? >> the good questions, and i think there phillips, john boone, and chick persons were appropriately honored? in many ways they were honored. claire phillips won the presidential medal of freedom in 1948. many of the women, margaret, and filipino women who fought with them also won the presidential medal of freedom which is a great honor.

john boone was highly decorated, he was proud, went back to fight in the korean war and had a great career. no doubt honored and respected 40 did. chick persons was honored by the united states with many high honors, bronze star, other awards of valor and was honored by the philippine government was very proud that he was finally offered and received citizenship as a philippine national which is very proud of. beyond those honors, what i'm trying to do is to say these

people deserve to be known. and for me that would be the greatest honor, to look at what they did and how they work together to impede the japanese juggernaut across the pacific and made it stop in many ways in the philippines. so my goal really is to just raise consciousness commented tell a great story about some brave people. so yes, honored and let's continue to honor them. >> in talking with jeannie she's told me stories about the young filipino girl and that she fought beside him in the jungles and she assisted with this, i

caught a spy triangle. did you find any information on her or about their relationship? i understand the first child they had was born in the jungles. jeannie tells me that her mother, and her mother used to tell her that she helped john boone bring together the filipino folks in that networking was very helpful. i was just curious if you found anything where she was also involved into spine or transferring of messages? >> the questions about john boone's helper and eventual wife, very well known as millie. they met in the hills of petan in 1942, 1943.

and she began to begin one of the main couriers of intelligence information and supplies between claire phillips and manila and john boone in the hills of petan. finally, millie and john realize they were more than just boston courier, they fell in love and i tell the story of their wedding in the book and pretty soon millie was pregnant and was not traveling down to manila, it was not a wise thing to be doing. but, they had an important relationship, the three of them did in moving information back and forth and one wishes that

millie would have lived longer so they could have written a memoir that the two had intended to write, which would have been more wonderful all of us. we would known a lot more of the details. it's a rich story in which these people risked everything to be able to provide intelligence, food, and supplies to fight the japanese. if there are no more questions, and before we say goodbye. i wanted to mention that i brought along something, and gifts for john boone's daughter, jean and if she is willing to come up i'm going to give it to her and i will tell you what it is. it has not been seen since 1957.

it's the testimony of her father at the u.s. court of claims, describing his work as a guerrilla fighter, describing his work with claire phillips, describing his engagement with fighting the japanese was the americans return. it's material that needs to be added to the history books because it has not been seen before. the entire file of this will now be part of the archives of the macarthur memorial. but, i wanted to break this out and give this to jean shish she could read it and see the words of her father she have never seen. would you, pitching? [applause]

>> i think it's time to have a movie made. i'm sorry, very emotional. thank you so much. >> were working on it. and thank you jean. [applause] thank you so much for coming. i appreciate it.