Award‑winning author Erin Entrada Kelly has a way of introducing history and geography lessons while engaging her middle school readers in various adventures of her fictional and non‑fictional characters. In line with the current publishing market’s focus on marginal, lesser-known populations and individuals, in At Last She Stood, Kelly introduces us to heroine Josefina Veluya Guerrero, known as Joey.
The subtitle of this book is “How Joey Guerrero Spied, Survived and Fought for Freedom.” It is a welcome addition to the literature of courage, resilience and service of unsung heroines and heroes. Joey’s story is of a small town girl in transition from a person of Catholic faith due to Spanish colonialism, to a Philippine national of the United States, to a guerilla under Japanese rule during World War II, and to an American citizen. Joey fought for freedom on many levels.
Born in 1917, Joey grew up in the mystical Philippine town of Luban known for myths and legends. She played make believe, imagining that she was Joan of Arc, the patron saint of France. Joan had visions of saints guiding her to lead France against domination by England. She was a woman warrior who restored Charles VII to the throne.
Joey was a curious, self‑assured, talented, determined student with a love for music and writing. Although she is orphaned as a teenager, her faith and resilience guide her towards greater connections with nuns and priests. She contracts tuberculosis and is sent to Manila for treatment. There she meets Renato, a medical student, whom she marries. They become parents to Cynthia. While she is eventually cleared of tuberculosis, she contracts Hansen’s Disease, commonly known as leprosy.
It is the dawn of World War II, and Joey’s adventures become intertwined with using her illness as a source of strength despite the pain and disfigurement of leprosy. As the Japanese occupy the Philippines after bombing Pearl Harbor, Joey becomes a spy and part of the underground network of Filipino patriots and their allies, including American Jesuits. Repulsed by the Japanese because of her skin lesions, she is rarely approached. She starts with observing and documenting Japanese soldiers coming in and out of Manila. Her most harrowing assignment is delivering a guerilla map taped to her back depicting Japanese minefields along a strategic road filled with enemy checkpoints.
“If Joey is successful, the American and Filipino fighters will be able to liberate the prisoners at Santo Tomas. If she isn’t, she will certainly be killed,” Kelly writes.
Joey isn’t killed. She tends to wounded soldiers and civilians, including foreigners. Her disease advances and she is sent to Tala Leprosarium in the wilderness of Novaliches, outside of Manila: “There are ten leaking cabins, one main building, a run-down open‑air chapel, and very few resources or supplies…. There is no plumbing, only outhouses.”
Joey again becomes a liberator fighting for the residents. She notes, “There is pity for every other disease…but for three thousand years lepers have been the outcast. Men flee from them and will not help them.”
With the power of the pen, she advocates for her fellow residents. She writes to Maria Dachauer of the Friends of Lepers in Sacramento, CA, to the daughter of Manuel Quezon, former Philippine president, and others. Finally, A.H .Lacson, a Manila Times journalist and former guerilla scout, visits Tala and describes it as a “graveyard for the living dead.” Officials, social workers, and activists arrive at Tala and conditions begin to change. For her work and courage, Joey is invited for further treatment at the National Lepersorium in Carville, LA for new experiences and adventures. Before leaving for the U.S., she is awarded the U.S. Medal of Freedom with Silver Palm for “more courage than that of a soldier on the field of battle.” She is also given the Spellmam Medal for “Christian fortitude and concern for fellow followers.” In the U.S., Josie continues her advocacy work and begins to find time for her love of writing and music. Moreover, she graduates from high school at the age of 36 and continues with college.
While this biography is compelling, I find the writing ambitious and disjointed. It tells several stories through narrative, striking photos, and illustrations. The historical facts of World War II in the Philippines and a history of Hansen’s Disease are roughly woven into the story of one heroine, Kelly acknowledges the frustration of telling a story with incomplete information about Josefina Veluya Guerrero. Although a journalist and poet, Joey left no memoir.
Juanita/Nita is an activist since the 1968 BSU/TWLF San Francisco State Strike; since the 1970 census advocating for more detailed racial and ethnic data in Washington, DC, and now singing with the Seattle Raging Grannies. Her collection resides in the Manuscript Division, The Library of Congress. Author of Golden Children, Legacy of Ethnic Studies, SF State, Juanita is featured in the documentary, Agents of Change https://www.agentsofchangefilmnational.com/
