Though Shunned and Despised, She Fought for Freedom
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Book Review: At Last She Stood: How Joey Guerrero Spied, Survived, and Fought for Freedom by Erin Entrada Kelly (Harper Collins Childrens, 2025)
Written for middle grades and young readers but as compelling for any age and generation, this nearly 200-page biography is the interesting, utterly brave life story of Josefina “Joey” Guerrero, a Filipina afflicted with the horrible illness of leprosy, shunned, ignored, and even despised by society. In this biography, author Erin Entrada Kelly shares Guerrero’s defiant celebration of life in the face of difficulties and challenges.
New York Times bestselling author Erin Entrada Kelly has creatively crafted the story of Joey Guerrero, a Medal of Freedom recipient from the US government during President Harry Truman’s term.
Erin Entrada Kelly
Joey Guerrero was a young wife and the mother of a toddler, when World War II came to the Philippines. She had been diagnosed with leprosy, also known as Hansen’s disease. Her compassion for others, strong faith, and love for her country motivated her heroic actions. She refused to go quietly in seclusion. Instead, Guerrero used her physical disfigurement both as a shield and a weapon against the wartime Japanese enemy. She eluded harsh inspections at the checkpoints, and was waved away by the enemy soldiers, who were repulsed by the sight of her skin lesions. At one time, Joey used this opportunity to tape a whole map on her back, and physically walked hundreds of miles to personally deliver the enemy’s geographic information and planned attack to American military officers, thus saving many lives.
Josefina Guerrero (Source: Facebook page of Memories Of Old Manila 2025)
But Joey’s leprosy was misunderstood. Those she thought were her friends reported her illness to authorities, and the search for Guerrero became imminent. The kind Jesuit priests at the Ateneo campus in Malate were her sole refuge. One such priest, Father Forbes Monaghan, brought Joey to another compassionate Filipina heroine living in Malate – Lulu Reyes. (Note: She was my mother). But the Reyes family home had just been bombed and destroyed during the infamous Battle of Manila in February 1945. It did not, however, deter Lulu Reyes from taking in Joey Guerrero, and together with a trusted group of friends, among them, First Daughter Aurora “Baby” Quezon, took care of the leper spy, and generously arranged for transportation to bring Joey to the Tala Leprosarium in Novaliches. I also heard this story firsthand from my late mother, Lulu.
In a side bar with photos, Entrada-Kelly writes about Lulu Reyes, a humanitarian aid worker and herself a Filipina civilian recipient of the US Medal of Freedom, twice from President Truman. This side note gives readers an even bigger perspective of how Filipino civilians stepped up during wartime, daringly and notwithstanding the dangers to help save their country and countless lives.
What makes this book so special is its perfect balance of reality and heart.
“I have overcome my hurts, my griefs, my disenchantment, and out of seeming despair I learned to cope, to rise up, to learn new and exciting things amongst the doubts and the turmoil. I’ve traveled a long, tortured road and left the past where it belongs. That book of my life is over.” – Joey Guerrero
Entrada-Kelly’s storytelling not only gives readers an insight of the inhumanity and indignities of war, but also has one marveling at both the bravery and humility of Guerrero, a Filipina heroine, whose tenacity, endurance, and faith are inspiring and worth emulating. It’s truly, a book that can help shape the minds and hearts of young middle grade readers, but also those of any age. This is the poignant story of a courageous Filipina, in a society that discriminates against the weak and vulnerable, people of color, and those who are not fortunate enough to have wealth or power.
Entrada-Kelly’s voice is quietly powerful. Her sentences and paragraphs are filled with sharp depictions of harsh realities and tender moments, of the heart-pounding enemy encounters, and the sadness that envelopes Joey. By the end, readers will be rooting for Joey Guerrero, and perhaps rethink how we, in this society, can do better.
Elizabeth Ann Quirino, is an award-winning journalist, food writer, and cookbook author. Her new book is Every Ounce of Courage, a memoir, is now available. Find her on TheQuirinoKitchen.com.
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