Her son Joshua Friedman confirmed the death to the New York Times, adding that his mother died from pneumonia.
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Friedman will be buried alongside her late husband, Meisha Friedman, an Army infantryman who is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
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. It was published in Life magazine just a few weeks later.
The iconic photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt is called “V-J Day in Times Square”, but it is more commonly known as “The Kiss”. In fact, Mr Mendonsa was on a date with a nurse, Rita Petry, who would later become his wife.
In the excitement of the celebrations following news of Japan’s surrender, an American soldier kisses a London girl in Piccadilly Circus. Mendonsa saw Zimmer, a dental assistant, and mistook her for a nurse.
“The reason he grabbed somebody dressed like a nurse, that he felt so very grateful to the nurses who took care of the wounded”.
While both Mendonsa and Zimmer said they are the photographed couple, others have also claimed to be depicted.
Zimmer became a costumer and for a time was part of a circle of theater professionals in NY.
Greta married Mischa Friedman, a doctor, in 1956. The picture is said as one of the most iconic pictures of the 20th century. That’s the time when the attacks began on that sunny day in 2001 – when a hijacked airplane slammed into the north tower of New York City’s World Trade Center.
Eisenstaedt, himself a Jewish refugee, was already well known.
It’s one of the most passionate moments ever caught on camera.
In recent years, the Times Square photo has prompted discussion over whether Mendonsa’s actions were appropriate; Zimmer did not anticipate the kiss. CBS News reunited Mendonsa and Friedman in 2012 at the spot of their kiss for just the second time since that day in 1945. She had arrived with her sisters to the U.S. at the age of 15.
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“(But) she didn’t assign any bad motives to George in that circumstance, that situation, that time”.
