 At the start of the occupation, she managed to suppress her American heritage and to secure a job at the Philippine Liquid Fuel Distributing Union, which was controlled by the occupying Japanese forces.There, between June 1942 and October 1944, she assisted the resistance movement by diverting fuel destined for Japanese use, falsifying documents for resistance members to obtain supplies, and using her position to facilitate acts of sabotage.In 1944, she was discovered as having worked in the resistance and was arrested, tortured, tried and sentenced to three years of imprisonment.