It was also the day that a young sailor named George Mendonsa grabbed Greta Zimmer-Friedman and planted this smooch on her. Alfred Eisenstaedt snapped the iconic photo and it was published in Life Magazine.
Mendonsa was stationed on the "Sullivans" and had just returned from the war in the Pacific. He was happy he made it through and over joyed to be home. The nurses gave our troops such great care and love that he grabbed the first one he saw. He held her back, and gave her the kiss of a life time- 68 years ago today! Over all these years they stayed in touch and have attended reunions together.
Personally, I always loved this picture, I have always tried to imagine what that scene must have been like. Every one so happy, everyone so patriotic and proud to be an American..and every one with overwhelming pride and gratitude for our military.....
-JUGM
holy moly - back then i wasn't american and i wasn't even born - but boy, do i have a real feeling for that pic too! it's awesome JUGM. thanks Gurlie!
ReplyDeleteyour friend,
kymber
Your Welcome! I first saw this pic when I was a little girl, my dad had a book called " 50 years of Life Magazine" I always wondered about those two people..For a really long time, no one knew who they were.. just really cool.
DeleteI always wondered if she slapped him after wards :)
ReplyDeleteOn second thought prolly not since to get a real kiss he would have had to be int he army :)
No Army guy would have the courage to grab some strange woman off the street and lay that kind of kiss on her--lol it took a Sailor to do that! See how entranced she is, her hands lay limp, her knees are weak..
DeleteIconic in so many ways... Apparently the story behind their reunion is quite a story in itself!
ReplyDeleteMy dad was a pharmacists mate in the Navy during the war. He said VJ day was one of the greatest days of his life. He was stationed on Guam and they were already shaking out the rear echelon guys to start beefing up the invasion forces for the landings on the main Japanese islands.
ReplyDeleteMy Uncle was an infantry sergeant in the Marines, and was in the landings at Saipan among others. He would never tell us, or his kids anything about the war at all.
My father in law was an infantry sergeant in the Marines and landed on Okinawa. He promised God that if he made it through he would devote himself to making the world a better place. Consequently he and my mother in law spent most of the rest of their lives as missionaries in Africa doing clinical work.
They have all passed on now.