6-5-12: An Iconic Kiss

Alfred Eisenstaedt’s photo of a sailor kissing a nurse in Times Square on August 14, 1945. Photo courtesy of Naval Institute Press.

It’s a photo you’ve seen before – a sailor kissing a woman in a white nurse’s uniform in the middle of Times Square.  It was August 14, 1945 – V-J Day, moments just after Japan’s surrender had been announced. The picture was taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt, and it ended up on the cover of Life magazine.  It became one of the most famous photos of the 20^th century.

Eisenstaedt didn’t get the name of the people in the photo, and their identities have been mysteries for years.

A new book called The Kissing Sailor: The Mystery Behind the Photo that Ended World War II, identifies the couple as George Mendonsa, who now lives in Middletown, Rhode Island, and Greta Friedman, who’s here in Maryland, in Frederick.

Sheilah talks with both of them, now 89, about how that moment in Times Square came about–and what it signified to them about the end of World War II.

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She also talks with the authors of the book, Larry Verria and  George Galdorisi. You can listen to the full interview with the authors, and learn more about all the research they did to identify the couple, below.

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