Florence Finch

For the New Zealand supercentenarian, see list of supercentenarians from Oceania.

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.

Florence Finch
Finch in 1945 or 1946
Born	(1915-10-11)October 11, 1915 Santiago, Isabela, Philippine Islands
Died	December 8, 2016(2016-12-08) (aged 101) Ithaca, New York, U.S.
Place of burial	Pleasant Grove Cemetery, Cayuga Heights, New York
Allegiance	Commonwealth of the Philippines, United States of America
Service / branch	Philippine resistance, United States Coast Guard
Years of service	1942–1945 (Philippine resistance) 1945–1946 (USCG)
Rank	Seaman second class (USCG)
Unit	SPARS (USCG)
Battles / wars	World War II Japanese occupation of the Philippines  (POW)
Awards	Medal of Freedom Asiatic–Pacific Campaign Ribbon

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]

Following the war, she moved to Buffalo, New York, where she joined the U.S. Coast Guard.^[4][8]

She died on December 8, 2016, in Ithaca, New York. Finch was given a military funeral with full honors in April 2017.^[5]

Awards and legacy

USCGC Florence Finch in Astoria, Oregon in 2024

Finch was awarded the American Medal of Freedom in 1947. She was also awarded the Asiatic–Pacific Campaign Ribbon, the first woman to be so decorated.^[1][4]

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]

References

1. Roberts, Sam (April 28, 2017). "Florence Finch, Unsung War Hero Who Took On Japanese, Dies at 101". The New York Times.
2. Lisa Tendrich Frank (January 17, 2013). An Encyclopedia of American Women at War: From the Home Front to the Battlefields [2 volumes]. ABC-CLIO. pp. 548–. ISBN 978-1-59884-444-3.
3. "Life well-lived includes service to country". Ithaca Journal. October 19, 2015. Retrieved April 29, 2017.
4. "U.S. Coast Guard Aviation History". Uscg.mil. Retrieved April 29, 2017.
5. "Full honors for Filipino-American WWII vet who died at 101". Troyrecord.com. December 7, 1941. Retrieved April 29, 2017.
6. Eveline Buchheim; Ralf Futselaar (2014). Under Fire: Women and World War II: Yearbook of Women's History/Jaarboek voor Vrouwengeschiedenis 34. Uitgeverij Verloren. pp. 75–. ISBN 978-90-8704-475-6.
7. Brenda Lee Moore (June 20, 2003). Serving Our Country: Japanese American Women in the Military During World War II. Rutgers University Press. pp. 133–. ISBN 978-0-8135-7110-2.
8. Slattery, Denis. "WWII heroine who was tortured by Japanese to be buried upstate". New York Daily News. Retrieved April 29, 2017.
9. "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.
10. "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.
11. Zahn, Theron (October 27, 2024). "New Coast Guard vessel in Puget Sound honors WWII hero's sacrifices and service". KOMO. Retrieved October 27, 2024.