KISSING WORLD WAR II GOODBYE
New York City (JFK+50) On August 14, 1945, the largest crowd in history jammed into Times Square here in New York to celebrate the surrender of Japan. There were many hugs and kisses but the one best remembered was between a sailor and a nurse that was captured by photographers for posterity.
The most famous of the photographs was made by Alfred Eisenstaed and published the following day in the New York Times and later in Life Magazine.
That picture is still protected by copyright laws, but another shot of the same scene by Lt. Victor Jorgensen and titled "Kissing the War Goodbye," is part of the National Archives collection which you see below. Neither photographer was able to get the names of the sailor and the nurse but in 1978 Edith Shain, who was 27 years old in 1945, wrote to Mr. Eisenstaed identifying herself as the girl in his iconic photograph.
Edith Shain was born in Tarrytown, NY on July 29, 1918 and graduated from New York University. She moved to Los Angeles shortly after the war. She delayed coming forward because she thought "the kiss" to be less than "dignified," but at the age of 60, she decided "times had changed."
Ms. Shain described the circumstances as...
"The happiness was indescribable. It was a very long kiss."
SOURCES
"Edith Shain Who Said Famous Kiss Came Her Way Dies at 91," by Richard Goldstein, New York Times, June 24, 2010, www.nytimes.com/
The American Presidency Project, www.presidency.ucsb.edu/
New York City (JFK+50) On August 14, 1945, the largest crowd in history jammed into Times Square here in New York to celebrate the surrender of Japan. There were many hugs and kisses but the one best remembered was between a sailor and a nurse that was captured by photographers for posterity.
The most famous of the photographs was made by Alfred Eisenstaed and published the following day in the New York Times and later in Life Magazine.
That picture is still protected by copyright laws, but another shot of the same scene by Lt. Victor Jorgensen and titled "Kissing the War Goodbye," is part of the National Archives collection which you see below. Neither photographer was able to get the names of the sailor and the nurse but in 1978 Edith Shain, who was 27 years old in 1945, wrote to Mr. Eisenstaed identifying herself as the girl in his iconic photograph.
Edith Shain was born in Tarrytown, NY on July 29, 1918 and graduated from New York University. She moved to Los Angeles shortly after the war. She delayed coming forward because she thought "the kiss" to be less than "dignified," but at the age of 60, she decided "times had changed."
Ms. Shain described the circumstances as...
"The happiness was indescribable. It was a very long kiss."
SOURCES
"Edith Shain Who Said Famous Kiss Came Her Way Dies at 91," by Richard Goldstein, New York Times, June 24, 2010, www.nytimes.com/
The American Presidency Project, www.presidency.ucsb.edu/
"Kissing the War Goodbye"
Times Square, NY City
August 14, 1945
Photo by Lt. Victor Jorgensen
National Archives Image
