Sailor in iconic V-J Day kiss photo dies at 95
The joyful sailor pictured passionately kissing a woman in New York City’s Times Square to celebrate the end of World War II has died at age 95, two days before his 96th birthday.
George Mendonsa had a seizure on Sunday at an assisted living facility in Middletown, Rhode Island, his daughter Sharon Molleur told The Providence Journal.
In the famous photo, Mendonsa was shown ecstatically kissing a woman in a white nurse’s uniform on Aug 14, 1945, also known as V-J Day, when Japan surrendered and people flooded into the streets to celebrate the end of hostilities.
The iconic photo was snapped by Alfred Eisenstaedt and first published in Life Magazine as “V-J Day in Times Square”. The moment has been shared widely and the photo also became one of the most famous of the 20th century.
Mendonsa served in the Pacific during World War II and was on home leave when the photo was taken. He kissed Greta Zimmer Friedman, a then dental assistant, whom he had never met before. Friedman died in 2016 at age 92.
Several people later claimed to be the kissing couple. It was only a few years ago that Mendonsa and Friedman were identified as the couple in the iconic photo.
Mendonsa talked about the kiss when he was honored at the Rhode Island State House in 2015. He said that Friedman reminded him of nurses on a hospital ship that he saw care for wounded sailors.
“I saw what those nurses did that day and now back in Times Square the war ends, a few drinks, so I grabbed the nurse,” Mendonsa said, WPRITV reported.
Eisenstaedt said that he watched the sailor running on the street, and grabbing any girl in sight. The photographer was running ahead of him with his Leica pointed back over his shoulder. However, none of the photos interested him, he wrote in his book “Eisenstaedt on Eisenstaedt”.
“Then suddenly, in a flash, I saw something white being grabbed. I turned around and clicked the moment the sailor kissed the nurse.”