A Navy veteran believed to be the sailor in Life Magazine’s famous photograph of a man kissing a woman to celebrate the end of World War II has died at the age of 95.
George Mendonsa of Newport, R.I., died on Sunday. He has maintained for decades he was the man in the Aug. 14, 1945, “The Kiss” photograph taken in New York City’s Times Square.
“When I look at that photograph, I just think of my dad’s service, and how happy he was that it was all over,” Mendonsa’s daughter, Sharon Molleur told CNN.
Life never officially named Mendonsa as the man in the photo, but other outlets identified him as the mystery man.
Mendonsa has said he was on leave following a deployment in the Pacific. He had been seeing a matinee movie with his date, Rita Petry, near Times Square when the news broke that the war was over. He visited a few bars in the area to celebrate and at one point, while outside in the street, abandoned his date, grabbed the unknown woman and kissed her.
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“So we get into Times Square and the war ends and I see the nurse,” Mendonsa said about the woman, Greta Friedman. “I had a few drinks, and it was just plain instinct, I guess. I just grabbed her.”
Petry, who he went on to marry and was with for seven decades, said the smooch “wasn’t that much of a kiss.”
Mendonsa said he thought Friedman was a nurse who had served during the war, thus why he wanted to celebrate with her. She later admitted she was a dental assistant and happened to be wearing all white.
Alfred Eisenstaedt, who captured the iconic photo, was a German-born American who achieved prominence working for Life magazine after leaving his home country prior to the outbreak of World War II. Eisenstaedt said he was unable to identify the couple that day in 1945, because he was taking photos so rapidly during the raucous celebration. He died Aug. 23, 1995.
[Related: America’s oldest WWII veteran, Richard Overton, dies at 112]
