On December 8, 1941, the Japanese navy invaded the U.S. Territory, the Philippines. Military bases that had been there since the 1880s were overrun and taken over. In Manila, a woman, Florence Betty Smith, whose husband was killed during the attack decides to avenge her husband. She joins a group of Filipino and American resistance fighters. This band of civilians hopes to launch a guerilla-style campaign of attacks on the Japanese installations and drive them from the island.
But first, they must overcome an obstacle. They need fuel to make the trucks go to drive all over the island and bring in supplies by boat. The Japanese have blocked access to it. Without the fuel, the resistance was over before it began. Smith gets a job as a typist for the Japanese writing gas vouchers. She secretly writes extra ones and gives them to the resistance who would sabotage supply lines and smuggle goods to prisoners of war.
She is able to do this job for a while, but one day she is caught and the Japanese throw her into a 2 X 4-foot cell and give her gruel once a day to eat. They tortured her endlessly to get information on the resistance. The rebels drain the Japanese military resources so that when the Americans come back to retake the island in February of 1945 they have an easier job of it.
Smith is found still in her cell, emaciated but still alive. She moves to the United States and in 1947 is awarded the Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor given. She married again and had children with her new husband and went on to live a peaceful life. This brave woman really stood up to the Japanese not only by helping the resistance but also by not saying anything under torture. We owe her a debt of gratitude.
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