When Japan’s surrender was announced on August 14, 1945, George Mendonsa grabbed the nearest girl, a woman in a white nurse’s outfit, tipped her back, and kissed her.

The moment was captured on film by photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt, who didn’t know at the time that he had taken what would become one of the most iconic images of World War II.

The picture, initially titled “V-J Day in Times Square” and more commonly called “The Kiss”, has been ranked alongside Gustav Klimt’s “The Kiss” and Auguste Rodin’s marble sculpture of the same name as one of the most famous depictions of a kiss in history, reports The Washington Post.

Eisenstaedt never got the names of the couple in the photo, but the man was later revealed to be George Mendonsa. Here’s CNN:

Though Mendonsa never persuaded Life magazine, which first published Alfred Eisenstaedt’s photo, that he was the man in the picture, several sources over the years — including the authors of “The Kissing Sailor: The Mystery Behind the Photo that Ended World War II” — have concluded the smooching seaman is Mendonsa. The authors cited facial recognition technology and high-tech forensic reconstructions.

It was taken August 14, 1945, shortly after news of Japan’s surrender — aka Victory Over Japan Day or V-J Day — spread through New York’s streets, a prelude to World War II’s imminent end.

…Mendonsa, 22 at the time, said he was overwhelmed with emotion upon hearing news of Japan’s surrender — “For Chrissake, the war is over!” he remembered thinking — and he grabbed Friedman, who he mistook for a nurse, because he’d seen the nurses in action during the war and was appreciative of their work to save and heal his fellow troops.

The woman in the photo is believed to be Greta Friedman, who described the kiss like this:

“Suddenly, I was grabbed by a sailor,” she recalled. “It wasn’t that much of a kiss. It was more of a jubilant act that he didn’t have to go back.”

The sailor was “very strong,” she told the Veterans History Project. The smooch wasn’t romantic, she said. It was more that the war was over, she said, and people were so thankful.

“He was just holding me tight. I’m not sure about the kiss,” she said. “It was just somebody celebrating.”

Friedman passed away in 2016 at the age of 92.

Mendonsa passed away two days ago at the age of 95, just two days before his 96th birthday.

Both are undoubtedly immortalised in one of the most iconic photos of all time.

[source:washingtonpost&cnn]