Kissing sailor in VJ Day photo
George Mendonsa, who has died aged 95, had the most credible claim to being the sailor famously photographed kissing a woman in Times Square, New York, on VJ Day on August 14, 1945.
The photograph, by Alfred Eisenstaedt, was first published in
magazine and became one of the most famous images of the 20th century. A naval photographer, Victor Jorgensen, captured the same moment in another photograph, which is in the public domain. The Eisenstaedt version remains protected by copyright.
Neither photograph showed the faces of the people involved, and numerous people have claimed to be the subjects, though most commentators accept the claims of Mendonsa and Greta Friedman, a dental assistant in a nurse’s uniform, whom Mendonsa had never met.
As Mendonsa recalled, he had been on leave from his ship and was watching a film at Radio City Music Hall when people started screaming that the war was over. After a few drinks in a bar, he joined the jubilant crowds on the streets outside. When he saw a woman in a white dress walk by, on a whim he took her into his arms and kissed her: ‘‘I had quite a few drinks that day and I considered her one of the troops – she was a nurse.’’
In 1987 Mendonsa filed, but later dropped, a lawsuit against Time Inc, owners of Life, alleging that they had violated his rights by using the photograph without his permission.
In 2005 a team of US navy researchers identified Mendonsa as ‘‘the kisser’’ after painstakingly 3D mapping then reverse-ageing his face and comparing his scars and tattoos to those on the photograph.
However, their findings were subsequently challenged by other researchers who argued that, according to Mendonsa’s account, the kiss should have occurred at approximately 2pm, though the shadows in the photograph (and the hands on a visible clock) suggest that it must have been taken after 5pm.
Mendonsa was proud to be a small footnote in history: ‘‘How many people in a lifetime do something famous?’’ he said in 1995. ‘‘There isn’t a navy man alive who didn’t serve in World War II who hasn’t looked at that photo and said, ‘I wish I were that guy’.’’
In the days of #MeToo, the honour seems a little more dubious, especially since Friedman said in 2005 that it had not been her choice to be kissed: ‘‘The guy just came over and grabbed! That man was very strong. I wasn’t kissing him. He was kissing me.’’
In 2014 Time’s website claimed that ‘‘many people view the photo as little more than the documentation of a very public sexual assault, and not something to be celebrated.’’
Yet Friedman and Mendonsa became friendly and remained in touch after meeting in 1980.
George Mendonsa was born in Newport, Rhode Island, to Portuguese immigrant parents. His father was a fisherman and George left school to join him on his fishing boat before enlisting in the navy in 1942.
He served on a destroyer during the war and afterwards went back to being a fisherman.
In 1946 he married Rita Petry, who survives him with their son and daughter. – Contact Us Do you know someone who deserves a Life Story? Email obituaries@dompost.co.nz