Women’s History Month
Yay Panlilio
DLC 725 President, Misty del Rosario, is commemorating Yay Panlilio for Women’s History Month.
Yay Panlilio
1913 – 1978
Panlilio was a Filipino American WWII Heroine and United States Medal of Freedom with Silver Palm recipient.
Yay broadcasted valuable information regarding the Japanese troops to the Americans as a journalist, and at one point, was the second in command of Filipino Guerilla Fighters know as Markings Guerrilla’s that harassed the Japanese troops until the Liberation of the Philippines by General MacCarther.
She returned to the states with her children in 1945 and wrote her biography, “The Crucible”
Favorite Quote:
“Filipinos will die for love, and Americans will die for
principle. I am half and half. I die the same way.”
Inspiration:
Yay Panlilio is a strong AAPI Role model. She was
tough, ingenuitive and did what she had to do to protect the
American Troops and the Filipinos from the Japanese occupation of
Manila long before it was acceptable for women to take this kind
of role in the world. I am proud to be half and half like Yay
Panlilio, proud of my Filipino heritage and proud to be an
American.