Claire Phillips Claire Phillips ( December 2 , 1908 – May 22 , 1960 ) , also known as Clara Fuentes or High Pockets , was an American spy who worked in the Japanese controlled Philippines during World War II . In 1951 , upon the recommendation of General Douglas MacArthur , she received the Medal of Freedom . Biography . Claire Phillips was born in 1908 . In September 1941 , after a failed marriage , Phillips ' traveled with her adopted daughter to Manila in the Philippines in hopes of joining a dance revue . While there , she met and married an American soldier stationed there named John Phillips . During the invasion of the Philippines by Japanese forces in 1941 and early 1942 her husband was captured and killed , though she did not know this until some time later . After the surrender of the American forces in the Philippines on April 9 , 1942 , she was convinced by an American soldier turned insurgent named John Boone to organize an espionage ring in Manila to help the resistance . Working with a young Filipino dancer named Fely Corcuera , Phillips arranged forged papers and created a new identity for herself as a Philippine - born Italian dancer named Dorothy Clara Fuentes . Together the two women established a cabaret titled " Club Tsubaki , " a gentleman ' s club that would quickly become popular with Japanese officers in Manila . Using the cabaret as a cover , Phillips began an extensive spy ring which harvested information from the Japanese officers who patronized the club . While initially the spy ring was intended to support the Philippine resistance , some of the information she collected was transmitted to American forces in the Pacific and used to predict and counter Japanese force movements . In addition to her spy activities , she worked extensively with the guerrilla movement to smuggle desperately needed food , medicines , supplies and information to the prisoners of the Cabanatuan prisoner of war camp . To the prisoners of the camp , she became known as " High Pockets " . The name was said to be a description of her method of smuggling messages by hiding them in her brassiere . In May 1944 , Phillips was apprehended by Japanese authorities ( the Kempeitai ) after one of the messengers she used to contact the POWs at Cabanatuan was captured , interrogated and killed . She was taken to " Bilibid Prison " , the infamous Japanese prison in Manila ( two miles from the American Prison Camp ) where she was tortured for information . Despite the torture , Phillips refused to talk . She was held in solitary confinement for six months and was to be executed for espionage . This sentence was later commuted to twelve years confinement at hard labor . In January 1945 , when she was liberated from the prison by American forces she was close to starving to death . After the war , Phillips returned with her adopted daughter to the United States where she wrote " Manila Espionage , " a book about her experiences . Her story was made into the Hollywood movie " I Was An American Spy " , starring Ann Dvorak as Claire Phillips . Phillips was later a guest on the television series " This Is Your Life " . In 1951 , upon the recommendation of General Douglas MacArthur , she received the Medal of Freedom . Claire Phillips died in 1960 at the age of 52 .