Florence Finch, Filipina American Warrior
/
Florence Ebersole Smith Finch, USCGR
For meritorious service which had aided the United States in the prosecution of the war against the enemy in the Philippine Islands, from June 1942 to February 1945. Upon the Japanese occupation of the Philippine Islands, Mrs. Finch (then Mrs. Florence Ebersole Smith) believing she could be of more assistance outside the prison camp, refused to disclose her United States citizenship. She displayed outstanding courage and marked resourcefulness in providing vitally needed food, medicine, and supplies for American Prisoners of War and internees, and in sabotaging Japanese stocks of critical items...She constantly risked her life in secretly furnishing money and clothing to American Prisoners of War, and in carrying communications for them. In consequence she was apprehended by the Japanese, tortured, and imprisoned until rescued by American troops. Through her inspiring bravery, resourcefulness, and devotion to the cause of freedom, Mrs. Finch made a distinct contribution to the welfare and morale of American Prisoners of War on Luzon.
Florence died at age 101 on December 8, 2016, and was buried with full military honors on April 29, 2017.
Florence in her later years
The acclaimed movie Six Triple Eight celebrates the true story of African American women who gave hope, and raised the morale of American soldiers in Europe during World War II. (Interestingly, one of those women also lived to be a centenarian.) Without taking anything away from Troop 6888, the world should also remember and honor the invaluable contributions of many Filipinas to the American victory on the other side of the world, the Pacific theater. Florence is one such Filipina, whose story must be told and never forgotten.
Soon after the Japanese invasion, Florence was hired by the Japanese authorities as a bookkeeper at the Philippine Liquid Fuel Distribution Union. There, she devised a system that allowed her to manipulate information and appropriate enormous amounts of fuel and other substances. These were converted into cash, medicines, and necessities that she smuggled to the prisoners in Cabanatuan and Santo Tomas. The prisoners used to bribe, buy, and barter for food and essential items from the Japanese and their collaborators to stave off starvation and hopelessness.
On October 16, 1944, Florence was arrested by the Japanese. Asked if she was American, she proudly responded, “No, Captain. Filipina.” While imprisoned, Florence suffered beatings, rape, electrocution, hard labor, and starvation until she weighed only 78 pounds. She was exposed to the brutalization of others, including beheadings, water tortures, and indiscriminate killings.
“War is hell,” she says. “Many older Filipinos can corroborate the viciousness inflicted by the Japanese. My grandfather, Eulogio Garcia, was arrested and tortured. He later became a Philippine Scout and fought alongside Americans, earning a Purple Heart for a Japanese-inflicted gunshot wound. My mother, Manuela Garcia Bañez, spoke of wholesale beheadings of nursing students with whom she started nursing school. She recounted that many others were killed simply for not bowing to the Japanese soldiers. My uncle, Francisco Garcia, died along with thousands of Filipinos and Americans during the infamous Bataan Death March. Unsurprisingly, most Filipinos hoped for an American victory.”
My grandfather (fourth from left holding the document), Eulogio Garcia, Chairman of his Philippine Scout delegation, pictured at an American Legion convention in 1968.
Three Francisco Garcias are listed on the wall of the Death March memorial in Tarlac. We believe the private was our uncle.
After more than three months in horrifying captivity, Florence was rescued by American soldiers and she eventually moved to the U.S. Instead of enjoying a comfortable life, she felt compelled to do even more by joining the military. In June 1945, a mere four months after being rescued, she became a seaman apprentice in the women’s branch of the Coast Guard (otherwise known as a “SPAR”), where she was chosen to represent the achievements of women in the Coast Guard, an honor bestowed by the commander-in-chief of the SPARs. She also subsequently received the Asiatic–Pacific Campaign Ribbon, the first woman to do so.
In 1995, the Coast Guard named a building in Hawaii after her. In October 2024, the Coast Guard officially commissioned its 57th Fast Response Cutter, the Florence Finch (WPC 1157). According to Coast Guard Vice Adm. Andrew Tiongson, Pacific Area Commander: "The cutter is now the only currently active ship in the United States military named after a Filipino-American." Personally, I would change that to “Filipina American.”
The Florence Finch (WPC 1157)
During the same ceremony, Florence was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award of Congress. With characteristic humility, she once said, “I feel very humble because my activities in the war effort were trivial compared with those of people who gave their lives for their country.”
In Six Triple Eight, Captain Charity Adams couched the troop’s daunting task of delivering 17 million pieces of mail as an order “to provide hope,” without which there is low morale. As Anne Frank wrote in The Diary of a Young Girl, “Where there’s hope, there’s life. It fills us with fresh courage and makes us strong again.”
Florence’s acts of bravery at great personal cost gave others hope and, therefore, life, courage, and strength.
Florence’s acts of bravery at great personal cost gave others hope and, therefore, life, courage, and strength. She paid homage to those who died like my uncle and those who were injured like my grandfather while aiding the Americans against the Japanese. For that, we –Filipinos, Filipino Americans, and Americans alike should never relegate her inspiring story of Filipina heroism to forgotten history.
This article was first published in TheFilAm and Filipino Press.
Marissa Bañez is a lawyer and an award-winning children’s book author of Hope and Fortune and Hues and Harmony (How the Rainbow Butterfly Got Her Colors). In writing this article, Ms. Bañez relied on The Indomitable Florence Finch by Robert J. Mrazek, personal family stories, Coast Guard publications, and various internet sources. The quote “War is hell” is attributed to American Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman. “SPAR” is an acronym for the Coast Guard motto “Semper Paratus – Always Ready.”
More from Marissa Bañez
