[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 61 (Wednesday, April 20, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E543]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   WOMEN OF HISTORY--MARGARET UTINSKY

                                 ______
                                 

                              HON. TED POE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, April 20, 2016

  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, there are some truly remarkable women 
in history. History helps us learn who we are, and where we came from. 
Margaret Utinsky is one such woman.
  In the heat of an August summer of 1900 Margaret Utinsky was born in 
St. Louis, Missouri. 40 years later, World War Two broke out. When the 
Japanese invaded the Philippines on January 2nd, 1940 Margaret was 
serving as a volunteer nurse with the Red Cross. As all strong women 
seem to do, she worked not only as a nurse, but also became the manager 
of the servicemen's canteen.
  My mother, Dorrace Poe, served as a volunteer nurse with the Red 
Cross during World War Two in Temple, Texas. Nurses like my mother and 
Margaret were called upon by Congress in the 1905 congressional charter 
to ``furnish volunteer aid to the sick and wounded of armies in time of 
war'' and to ``act in matters of voluntary relief and in accord with 
the military and naval authorities as a medium of communication between 
the people of the United States of America and their Army and Navy.''
  As the U.S.S. Washington sailed off into the murky ocean waters, 
Utinsky stood resolved. She did not leave with the Army wives, ferried 
off to safety. Her husband returned to serve in Batann as a civil 
engineer, safe from harm. Utinsky is best known for her work with the 
Filipino resistance movement to provide medicine, food, and other items 
to aid Allied prisoners of war in the Philippines during World War II.
  As the Japanese took the capital city of Manila, Margaret rushed off, 
hid in an abandoned apartment complex, and stocked it with food and 
medicine that she stole from the Army and Navy commissaries. For 10 
weeks she hid out, desperate to save herself from the internment camps, 
teaching herself to type and listening to the radio.
  Undiscovered after ten weeks in hiding, Utinsky ventured out and 
sought help from the priests at Malate Convent. Through her various 
contacts, she obtained false papers, creating the identity of Rena 
Utinsky, a Lithuanian nurse. (Lithuania was a nonbelligerent country 
under armed occupation by Nazi Germany.)
  With her new identity she finally was able to find work in a Red 
Cross unit that was headed to Bantaan. Upon her arrival she was able to 
help American Soldiers who were captured by the Japanese. While 
treating the soldiers, she found and concealed an American flag and 
documents describing spy activity. After witnessing the Bataan Death 
March, she resolved to do all that was in her power to aid those in 
need. She helped build a clandestine resistance network that provided 
food, medicine and money to those in the POW camps at Camp O'Donnell 
and then later at Cabanatuan prison camp. After learning of her 
husband's death in a prison camp she redoubled her efforts, determined 
to avenge her husband's death.
  Suspected of aiding and saving prisoners, the Japanese arrested her. 
She was subjected to 32 days of torture at Fort Santiago prison. She 
survived daily beatings, was hung with her arms tied behind her back 
and was sexually assaulted. Cold bloodily, five Filipinos were beheaded 
directly in front of her cell. On another night, an American soldier 
was tied to her cell gate and beaten to death, his body disintegrating 
as they beat him. She then was confined to a dungeon cell, starved and 
malnourished for four days. Not once did she reveal her true identity.
  She was finally released after signing a statement attesting to her 
good treatment. Utinsky spent six weeks in a hospital recovering from a 
multitude of injuries. The doctors wanted to amputate her gangrenous 
leg, but she refused, terrified that she would reveal secrets while 
under anesthesia. The hospital was full of Japanese spies. She directed 
the surgeons to remove the gangrenous flesh without any type of 
anesthesia. Despite not having fully recovered, she left the hospital 
and escaped to the Bataan Peninsula. She continued to serve as a nurse 
with the Philippine Commonwealth troops, moving from camp to camp until 
liberation in February 1945.
  When the Allies arrived, Utinsky was taken through the Japanese lines 
to the Americans. She had lost 45 pounds and an inch in height. Her 
hair had turned solid white and she appeared to have aged 25 years. 
Within a few days she wrote for the Americans a list from memory, of 
soldiers she knew had been tortured, the names of the torturers and the 
names of collaborators and spies.
  In 1946, Utinsky was awarded the Medal of Freedom for her heroic 
actions, defending the lives of Americans abroad. Strong women like 
Utinsky are the backbone of America. They fought valiantly against 
those who seek to kill, destroy, and harm our men. They are unsung 
heroes of the Second World War.
  And that is just the way it is.

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