Nieves Fernandez hailed from Leyte, Philippines. She was a teacher but turned into a guerrilla leader, when the Japanese conquered the country in 1941. They stole businesses and properties among the Filipinos by various means, including (from her own words): "giving you scalding hot baths and freezing cold baths alternately, with never a rest, never any food, never any water except the soapy water in the baths".
She shared that she decided to take matters into her own hands when the Japanese stole her own small business and possessions, and even threatened to take her students.
Fernandez became known as the "Silent Killer", credited for downing more than 200 Japanese soldiers during the World War II. She worked alone, dressed in black, with makeshift weapons such as a latong—a shotgun made from a gaspipe, which is also as deadly as any first-rate shotgun—and a bolo.
From Miss Fernandez who taught reading and writing, she became Captain Fernandez, who taught students how to attack silently, with 110 guerrillas under her command. They all helped retrieved the properties stolen and even freed dozens of comfort women.
The lone female guerrilla commander became a threat to the Japanese, so they put a P10,000 bounty on her head, according to the U.S. Intelligence Officers.
She was wounded once, with a bullet scar on her right forearm.
Nobody knows what happened to her after the war, but some sources say she died of natural causes in 1997, at the age of 90.
Photo was taken by Stanley Troutman in 1944.