The woman pictured sharing a kiss with a sailor in an iconic photograph of people celebrating the end of the Second World War has died aged 92.
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Greta Zimmer Friedman’s son says his mother died Thursday at a Richmond, Virginia, hospital of what he called complications from old age.
Friedman was a 21-year-old dental assistant in a nurse’s uniform August 14, 1945, known as V-J Day, the day the Japanese surrendered.
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.
In fact, Mendonsa was on a date with an actual nurse, Rita Petry, who would later become his wife. In it Goebbels was glaring at the camera; moments earlier, Eisenstaedt had captured Goebbels, grinning, and some photography enthusiasts have speculated that in the interim Goebbels learned Eisenstaedt was Jewish.
There were a number of people who claimed to be the sailor and the nurse in the photo and it was not until the 1980s that they were confirmed to be Ms Friedman and Mr Mendosa.
It was first published in Life magazine, buried deep within its page, not gaining full recognition until decades later. In 1980 she was asked to come forward along with the sailor by the magazine, but the two were unable to prove themselves even after several claims.
Ms. Friedman revealed in an interview that it “Wasn’t much of a kiss” and although the picture captures the pair in a tight embrace, they did not actually know each other.
While there have been many claims over the identity of the nurse in the photograph, author Lawrence Verria claimed to have proven that Friedman, along with sailor George Mendonsa, were the people in the iconic image taken in NY as crowds celebrated VJ Day.
She married Dr. Mischa E. Friedman, a scientist for the U.S. Army, in 1956.
Friedman died of pneumonia, her son, Joshua Friedman, said.
The blogger noted comments from Greta Friedman’s 2005 Veterans History Project interview.
Both of Friedman’s parents died in the Holocaust, according to Lawrence Verria, co-author of “The Kissing Sailor: The Mystery Behind the Photo that Ended World War II”.
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“My mom had so many stories and so many experiences; this was just one of many”, Friedman said about the iconic photo.
