The Crucible: An Autobiography by Colonel Yay, Filipina American Guerrilla

The Crucible: An Autobiography by Colonel Yay

the Crucible 3 the marking guerrillas’ creed April 9, 1942 Fall of Bataan . . . if the least we do is fertilize the soil where we fall, then we grow a richer grain for tomorrow’s stronger nation . . . WE, “MARKING’S GUERRILLAS,” BELIEVE it is the right of every Filipino to walk in dignity, unslapped, unsearched, untied; to speak freely of honor and injustice alike; to assemble freely; to mold our destiny as a people. WE BELIEVE that we owe allegiance to America, and that the only flags to fly in this sweet air are the Stars and Stripes and the Philippine flag until such time as the Philippine flag flies alone. We want no independence by treachery. Our independence will come to us in the benevolent manner consistent with the way America treated us for more than twoscore years, or we will get it in due time, on the field of battle if we still want it that badly, without the help of an aggressor who transgressed us and calls us brother and now whips us to arms against those who would help us and punish him. WE BELIEVE that it is the right of every Filipino to raise his or her weapon against the enemy, be that weapon a rifle, a bolo, poison, or a sweet I-don’t-know-a-thing smile. And we believe that it is the right of every Filipino to hide, help, and arm every American who comes within reach of Filipino hands, and to feed and comfort Americans within the concentration camps. WE BELIEVE that the greatest and the humblest, the richest and the poorest, the wise and the childlike, the oldest and the youngest, the best and the worst, the men and the women, with or without military training —that all these are brother Filipinos and that they have the right to fight the enemy. WE BELIEVE that the nature and function of the guerrilla is threefold: (1) it harasses the enemy, occupying as many enemy troops as possible in their own “occupied” territory, thus keeping them out of their own front 4 • the crucible lines; (2) it is a secret self-government, where there is justice and aid for all “of the people, by the people, for the people”; (3) it is an opportunity for a small minority of bums, loafers, ex-convicts, and Welfareville boys to risk their lives on the toughest assignments and thus prove their loyalty, their valor, and their intelligence, and by association with the majority to gain a new standard for living and acting. we believe that god is with us all the while we do right, and that victory shall be ours in the end. 5 foreword This story was lived by one of the most gallant women of our time, a woman of whom two nations should be proud. Colonel Yay did not see the Philippines until she was eighteen. Born in Denver of an Irish father and a Filipina mother, she grew up in the freedom of the United States, and she took with her into the hills of Luzon not only the American ideals of justice and pride but the Filipino traits of courage and unselfish devotion. In the crucible of war, in herself as well as her adopted country these qualities were blended into greatness. She is what the Islands call a “mestiza,” a mixture. Thus, she is small, too thin, with olive skin and black hair and eyes. These are her Filipino heritage. And the Irish in her comes out in delicate bone structure, long-fingered hands, a pointed chin, a casual yet fluid manner of using her body, an intensity of mind. I first saw her in 1945 in one of the crummiest hotel rooms I have ever entered. Fresh from the blood-drenched provinces she had defended, she had brought her three children by army transport to their grandmother in California.The Red Cross had arranged for available shelter, and I found her on Los Angeles’ “Skid Row” in a corner room furnished with two enormous double beds of brass, an ancient dressing table, and a rug brown with the droppings of humanity. There was a telephone hanging from the woodwork by the door, and a cubicle which boasted a three-foot tin tub. Yay, hearing I was in the writing racket, had asked me to come down. The newspaper business was and still is one of...