American Valor Quarterly Issue 13 - Fall 2015 | Page 12

Top : Alfred Eisenstaedt / Time-Life Pictures / Getty Images ; Bottom : U . S . Naval Institute Press
niece , Rita , with them . We had a nice seafood dinner and I remember thinking , “ Holy , geez , she ’ s beautiful .” Unfortunately , they were only in Newport for about a week , but I kept in touch with her by phone . The war was still going on and my leave was running out , but I made plans to make my reservations out of New York to head back to the ship so I could spend the last few days of my leave with her in New York . It was on my last day in New York that infamous LIFE magazine photo was taken .
News broke that the war was over and excitement filled the streets of New York . Broadcasts on the Times Square building lit up behind huge crowds that gathered to revel in the news . Parents were soon to be reunited with their children , and men could return to their girlfriends back home . It was a great sense of relief and calm for all of us to know that our lives would soon return to normal .
What would soon become one of the most iconic images of WWII was the result of a chance encounter I had with a young nurse , named Greta , who converged on Times Square at the same time .
In the excitement of the moment , I walked up and kissed the nurse . It might seem strange , especially considering I went on to marry Rita who I was visiting in New York that day , but it was the jubilation that everyone felt and it was an impulse . Photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt , who was there covering the celebration , immortalized that kiss forever . Of course if it hadn ’ t been in New York , at that moment in time , I don ’ t think the photo would have
THE QUESTION OF THE TRUE IDENTITY OF THE SAILOR AND NURSE LINGERED FOR DECADES . FROM THE LATE 1970S UNTIL ONLY RECENTLY , MOST THOUGHT THAT ONE-HALF OF THE PUZZLE HAD BEEN SOLVED , AS ALFRED EI- SENSTAEDT HIMSELF IDENTIFIED EDITH SHAIN - ANOTHER NURSE WHO HAD BEEN IN TIMES SQUARE ON VJ DAY ( AND , LIKE MANY ON THAT HAPPY DAY , WAS THE RECIPIENT OF MANY A KISS ) - AS “ THE NURSE .”
IT WAS NOT UNTIL 2012 WHEN THE BOOK , THE KISSING SAILOR , WAS PUBLISHED THAT AUTHORS GEORGE GALDORISI AND LAWRENCE VER- RIA , USING NEW AND SOPHISTICATED FORENSIC RESEARCH , PROVED WITHOUT A DOUBT THAT GEORGE MENDONSA AND GRETA FRIEDMAN WERE IN FACT THE “ SAILOR AND NURSE .”
WHILE THE FACES OF THE SAILOR AND NURSE COULD NOT BE SEEN TO HELP PROVE THEIR IDENTITY , THE FACE OF ONE OF THE PRINCIPALS OF THE STORY WAS CLEARLY VISIBLE - JUST ABOVE THE SAILOR ’ S SHOULDER , THE SMILING FACE OF RITA PETRY , ON HER FIRST DATE WITH HER FUTURE HUSBAND , GEORGE MENDONSA .
received the fanfare it has in the years since it first appeared in LIFE .
In the photo , what you ’ re seeing is a seconds long encounter between two strangers right before we went our separate ways . But as the photo started receiving more attention , Greta and I were reacquainted and we remain friends today .
In the decades since the photograph was published , there ’ s been some senseless controversy about who is featured in that photo . Life wasn ’ t able to identify us that day so there were
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