This Filipina Spy Used Her Leprosy as a Cover to Thwart the Japanese During World War II

Francine Uenuma History Correspondent For two days in February 1945, a petite, sickly Filipina woman—her body marked by leprous lesions—moved furtively toward American troops’ position in Calumpit, around 30 miles north of Manila. She traveled first on foot, dodging Japanese soldiers, and then on a bangka boat on the Pampanga River, pursued by opportunistic river pirates who thrived in the chaos of war. The…