Women's History Month: Two heroic women you should know

Most of our history books have been written by men and the contributions of women are often forgotten, overlooked or deemed unimportant enough to record. That's true in the telling the stories of the United States and the Philippines.

These two women should be hailed as heroes and their relatively recent stories need to be included when studying history. 

MARIA ROSA LUNA HENSON

During WWII, it is a known fact that soldiers of the Imperial Army forced countless omwen in the countries occupied by Japan to serve as "comfort women." Most women victims kept this dark secret to themselves out of shame and embarrassment. Maria Rosa Henson was the exception.

Her 1992 autobiography, "Comfort Women: Slave of Destiny" gave a face and a voice to those women abused by their captors. 

Henson -- a native of Panay, Philippines -- wrote how at the age of 16 she was taken by the soldiers and for nine brutal months she had to endure daily sexual abuse.

Her book inspired other women to come out with their own stories, belying earlier claims that the Japanese forces did not set up "comfort stations" in the Philippines as they did in Korea, Taiwan and Indonesia.  

Henson died in 1997 and didn't see the movement that she begin an international outcry as the women demanded official recognition and compensation for the Japanese government, a task that contnues up to this day.

MAGADELNA ESTOISTA LEONES

Cpl. Magdalena Estoista Leones’ Silver Star citation states that she was an intelligence operative in the Philippines who, on Feb. 25 to 26, 1944 “repeatedly risked her life to carry important intelligence data, vital radio parts and medical supplies through heavily garrisoned enemy-held territory.” 

Before she turned 25, Magdalena had already been arrested by Japanese soldiers three times, and escaped all three times harm-free. She was eventually enlisted in the Philippine army and became an official member of the US Armed Forces in the Philippines (USAFIP).

On July 18 1945, Col. Vlockman, the US Army officer who offered her a position as a special agent, recommended that Cpl. Leones be awarded the US Silver Star, the third- highest military decoration. Cpl. Leones is the fifth woman to receive the honor, and the only Asian. 

Later in her life, she was also awarded the Philippine Liberation Medal, the Resistance Movement Medal, the World War II Medal, and the Philippine Independence Ribbon.

Cpl. Leones moved to California from the Philippines in 1969.The San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors paid tribute and issued a Certificate of Honor in memory of the late Corporal Magdalena Estoista Leones, a Filipina American war veteran and unsung heroine of WWII, who passed away in 2016.