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Statue of iconic moment celebrating end of WWII vandalized after kissing Sailor dies at 95

February 19, 2019 | | Print Article

 

 

NEW YORK – AUGUST 14: Carl Muscarello and Edith Shain, who claim to be the nurse and sailor in the famous photograph taken on V-J Day, kiss next to a sculpture based on the photograph in Times Square to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II August 14, 2005 in New York City. Alfred Eisenstaedt took the famous photograph in Times Square but did not note the names of the people in the picture. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

The sailor captured in Life Magazine’s iconic photo kissing a nurse in Times Square to celebrate the end of World War II has died at the age of 95.

How did a radical part of today’s generation recognize his death?

In the feminist-driven #MeToo age, they vandalized a statue in Florida capturing the famous pose in the photograph known as “The Kiss.”

The Sarasota Police Department reported an unknown individual spray painted in red the phrase “#MeToo” on the nurse’s leg in the Unconditional Surrender statue — there is no available surveillance video in the area that captured the incident.

George Mendonsa of Newport, R.I., who has maintained for decades he was the man in the famous Aug. 14, 1945, photograph, died Sunday, according to the Washington Examiner.

Having been deployed to the Pacific, Mendonsa was on leave that day and was seeing a matinee movie with another woman near Times Square when news broke that the war was over, The Examiner reported.

https://twitter.com/_Jes_Lyn_/status/1097668958889615360

He reportedly hit a few bars to celebrate and when he encountered the nurse in the street, Greta Zimmer Friedman, he grabbed her and planted a kiss.

Yes, without asking for permission.

The couple are from an era that Tom Brokaw tagged the Greatest Generation. A generation that endured hardship and sacrifice today’s hypersensitive Millennial Generation could not begin to fathom as they fret over their latte macchiato about the latest offenses to their delicate sensibilities.

Mendonsa and Friedman would reunite in 1980 at the invitation of Life Magazine — Mendonsa said this was the first time he saw the iconic photograph taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt. Some 35 years later.

The couple would appeared on CBS This Morning and Friedman wasn’t complaining about being kissed.

“You don’t forget this guy grabbing you,” she said with a smile.

America was gearing up for what appeared at the time to be an inevitable invasion of Japan, a campaign expected to result in more than a million casualties because of the fanaticism of the Japanese soldier, who refused to quit fighting when defeated.

It’s not hard to image the elation of the American people to suddenly learn that Japan had surrendered and the war was finally over — more than 418,000 Americans died in World War Two.

On a positive note, the graffiti has been removed:

Meanwhile, the debate rages on in the toxic wasteland known as Twitter on whether the incident was sexual assault or not.

Here’s a sampling of responses:

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Tom Tillison
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