Florence Ebersole Smith Finch (October 11, 1915 – December 8, 2016) was a Filipino-American member of the World War II resistance against the Japanese occupation of the Philippines.
Life
Finch was born Loring May Ebersole on October 11, 1915, in Santiago, Isabela, the Philippine Islands, when the country was under American colonial rule. Her father was American and her mother was Filipina. How Ebersole's given name, usually masculine and thus unusual for women at that time, was changed to Florence remained unknown.[1][2][3]
Prior to the Japanese invasion of the Philippines, Finch was working at the G-2 (Intelligence) Headquarters of the U. S. Army in Manila.[4] There she met her husband, an American sailor named Charles Smith, who would be killed in action in the Philippines in 1942.[1][5]
At the start of the occupation, she managed to suppress her American heritage and to secure a job at the Philippine Liquid Fuel Distributing Union, which was controlled by the occupying Japanese forces.[4] There, between June 1942 and October 1944, she assisted the resistance movement by diverting fuel destined for Japanese use, falsifying documents for resistance members to obtain supplies, and using her position to facilitate acts of sabotage.[2][6][7]
In 1944, she was discovered as having worked in the resistance and was arrested, tortured, tried and sentenced to three years of imprisonment.[6] She remained in captivity until February 10, 1945, when, weighing just 80 pounds, she was freed by the American troops liberating the Philippines.[1]
In 1995, the Coast Guard named a building on Sand Island in Hawaii in her honor.[1][2]
In 2019, the USCG announced its intention to name their Fast Response Cutter (WPC 1157) for "Seaman First Class Florence Finch".[9][10] The USCGC Florence Finch, commanded by Lieutenant Connor Ives, operates in the Puget Sound, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the Columbia River.[11]
^"Coast Guard releases names of next 10 Fast Response Cutters". Coast Guard News. Washington, DC. October 23, 2019. Retrieved November 7, 2019. Continuing the Sentinel Class' tradition of honoring women and men who distinguished themselves while serving as enlisted Coast Guard members throughout the history of the Service, FRCs 55–64 bear the names of leaders, trailblazers and heroes of the Coast Guard and its forbearers.
^"ALCOAST 328/19 - OCT 2019 NEW FAST RESPONSE CUTTERS NAMED FOR COAST GUARD HEROES". US Coast Guard. October 23, 2019. Retrieved November 7, 2019. Seaman First Class Florence Finch. Serving under dire conditions in enemy-occupied Philippines, Seaman Finch provided much needed medicines and supplies to American POWs. Seaman Finch later suffered torture and privation before eventually enlisting in the Coast Guard. She received the Medal of Freedom for her heroism.
