Veterans Chronicles : At one point did you try to make it officially known that that was indeed you ?
George : Well , in 1980 , LIFE magazine come out in the magazine and had the picture and the big article and of course , it said , “ If the sailor can identify himself , would he please come forward .” And I looked at it , and looked at it , and I knew it was me . So , I approached LIFE magazine , and Francis Sylvia , the guy who first spotted it a few years before , well he and I went down to New York to the LIFE building and I met with the people at LIFE , and I was very disappointed with them . I thought they were going to see the evidence and identify me , because I wanted to be identified . But LIFE magazine , they looked at the picture , and looked at the evidence I had , but to this day they haven ’ t admitted I was the sailor in that photo .
Veterans Chronicles : Then , the book came out not long ago where they did a lot of research into who the two people were , and ultimately , you ended up meeting Greta Friedman again . What was that like ?
George : Well , I feel as though they knew it was me , but they never would admit it . They haven ’ t admitted it to this day that I ’ m the sailor . Well , anyway , LIFE magazine asked me to come to New York and that they were going to invite — there were six girls at that time that were claiming to be the nurse — and I told LIFE magazine , I said , “ Out of those six girls , I can prove I ’ m the sailor in the photo .” I said , “ Out of those girls , there ’ s only one girl that matches up to my height , that kind of looks like her in the photo .” So , I told LIFE that Greta Friedman was the only girl in the group that I would say is the nurse . So they contacted Greta to come to New York . They told me they were going to put Greta right down at Times Square and they were going to pick me up at the hotel and chauffer me to Times Square , where I would approach the girl , and they would start filming me meeting her . And I said , “ Well I don ’ t know where she is .” “ Oh , well , we ’ ll point her out to you when you get out of the cab .” So I ’ m walking across Times Square and they are all pointing at this girl standing in the middle there . So I walked up to her and I grabbed her by the hand , and of course they ’ re starting to film me meeting Greta Friedman . So when I walked up to her , I grabbed her by the hand , and said something like , “ Well , it ’ s great after all these years to finally get to meet ya .” And , of course , I knew they expected me to grab her and kiss her .
Veterans Chronicles : You are the focal point of one of the most famous photographs of the 20 th century . What is that like ?
Greta : Oh , I ’ m aware of it . And it ’ s just very , very lucky .
Veterans Chronicles : If you had it to do over , would you do it again ?
Greta : Oh , of course , my God !
Veterans Chronicles : George , what is it like for you to be a part of one of the most famous images in American History ?
George : Well I was glad it all happened . I haven ’ t met a person yet that I can ’ t convince I am that sailor . I ’ ve got scars , I ’ ve got my weight , my height , I ’ ve got scars on my eyebrows . So anyway , when LIFE was ignoring me , I hired a lawyer to go after LIFE and we started a legal action against them . My lawyer got a hold of Richard Benson . His family is the family that built the WWII memorial in Washington , DC . So my lawyer got a hold of Benson and Benson calls me to his house and I ’ m explaining to Benson why I am that sailor . So , after a while , Benson looked at me and said , “ I want to look at your left arm ,” and I said , “ There ’ s nothing on my left arm . My right arm is the one that shows in the photo .” He says , “ I want to look at your left arm .” So I look at my left arm , roll it over , and right there on the inside of the wrist , I ’ ve got a growth . I knew I had this growth on my arm , but I didn ’ t know it showed in the photo . And of course Richard Benson , he ’ s a dean and professor of photography at Yale and he ’ s probably a top photo man in the United States . So , Richard Benson turns my hand over and there it is . Even today I ’ m looking at it ; the inside of my left arm . And then we looked at the picture and there it is . So I ’ ve got a document signed by Richard Benson , that without a doubt , I am the sailor in that photo .
AVQ
18 AMERICAN VALOR QUARTERLY