In Times Square in New York City, an ecstatic sailor kissed every female he could reach, regardless of their ages.
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Her son Joshua Friedman said his mother had been living in an assisted living center for the past two years and had developed health complications, CBS reported.
On August 14 1945 – known as VJ Day, the day Japan surrendered to the United States – people spilled into the New York City streets from restaurants, bars and cinemas, celebrating the news. While many men have claimed to be the sailor kissing Friedman in the Times Square photo, a man named George Mendonsa has been determined as the kisser.
The two had never met before the kiss. In fact, the sailor’s future wife, Rita Mendonsa, can be seen grinning above his shoulder in the photograph.
Greta Zimmer Friedman, identified later as the nurse in the photo, became the subject of perhaps the most iconic photo taken on V-J Day on August 14, 1945.
It was first published in Life magazine, buried deep within its page, not gaining full recognition until decades later.
In recent years, the Times Square photo has prompted discussion over whether Mendonsa’s actions were appropriate; Zimmer did not anticipate the kiss. It was years until Mendonsa and Friedman were confirmed to be the couple.
Some have suggested the story smacks of sexual assault, but Joshua Friedman said his mother would respectfully disagree.
As she entered Times Square, Ms Friedman was grabbed and kissed by George Mendonsa, a sailor on leave and overjoyed by the war’s end.
She will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery alongside her husband, Mischa Elliott Friedman.
The blogger noted comments from Greta Friedman’s 2005 Veterans History Project interview. He was just holding me tight. She was in one of the most famous photographs of the 20th century, one depicting the county’s joy as Americans learned of the Japanese surrender. “It wasn’t a romantic event”.
The end of the war would have been deeply felt by Ms Friedman, who was born Greta Zimmer in Austria in 1924, and who fled from the Nazis to the U.S. with her sisters in 1938.
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