George Mendonsa World War II veteran believed to be in the iconic "Times Square Kiss" photograph Date of Birth: 01.01.1923 Country: USA

1. George Mendonsa: The 'Kissing Sailor' of V-J Day
2. Contested Identity
3. Unresolved Mystery
4. Mendonsa's Account
5. Alternate Hypothesis
6. Legacy
7. Contested Timeline

George Mendonsa: The 'Kissing Sailor' of V-J Day

George Mendonsa, a World War II veteran and the presumed subject of the iconic "Kissing Sailor" photograph taken on V-J Day, passed away in the United States at the age of 96. The identity of the sailor in the photograph has been disputed for decades, with as many as 30 Americans claiming to be the man pictured kissing a nurse in a white dress.

Contested Identity

Mendonsa's claim to the title was reportedly supported by facial recognition technology. However, other contenders included Glenn McDuffie, who asserted that he was the sailor who kissed Edith Shain, the identified nurse. McDuffie passed lie detector tests, but doubts persisted after Shain claimed she had been kissed by Carl Muscarello instead.

Unresolved Mystery

An exhaustive investigation by Lawrence Verria and George Galdorisi, authors of "The Kissing Sailor: The Mystery Behind the Photo that Ended World War II," concluded that three prime candidates—McDuffie, Muscarello, and Mendonsa—fit the physical description of the "Kissing Sailor." However, Edith Shain's height (5'6") did not match any of the claimants.

Mendonsa's Account

Mendonsa maintained that he remembered the moment and setting of the kiss, and he possessed the "large hands" and "forehead scar" commonly attributed to the sailor in the photo. Verria interviewed him, and Mendonsa recalled being on leave in Manhattan when he heard the announcement of the war's end. He had "been drinking quite a bit" and became so overwhelmed with emotion upon seeing the nurse that he felt compelled to kiss her.

Alternate Hypothesis

Neither Mendonsa nor Shain was aware that their kiss had been captured for posterity. Intriguingly, another woman, Virginia resident Greta Zimmer Friedman, claimed to be the nurse in the photograph. In a 2005 interview with the Library of Congress, she stated, "The guy just came over and grabbed! ... I did not see him coming at all. I was in the middle of talking to somebody, and all of a sudden, I was in this vice grip."

Legacy

Edith Shain, the original "girl in the photograph," died in 2010 at the age of 91. Greta Zimmerman Friedman passed away in 2016 at the age of 92. George Mendonsa's daughter, Sharon Molleur, said her father never wavered in his claim and was proud to have seen a larger-than-life statue of the sailor and nurse kissing erected in Times Square on the 65th anniversary of V-J Day.

Contested Timeline

Physicists Donald W. Olson, Russell Doescher, and Steve Kawaler have challenged Mendonsa's version of events. They argue that the lighting conditions in the photograph suggest that the kiss took place around 5:00 PM or later, rather than the 2:00 PM time Mendonsa claimed. They also note the position of a clock in the background, which appears to indicate approximately 5:50 PM. The true identity of the "Kissing Sailor" may forever remain a mystery.