V–J day in Times Square

V–J day in Times Square, perhaps the most famous photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt, is of an American sailor kissing a young woman on V–J Day in Times Square in 1945, that was originally published in Life magazine. (The photograph is known under various names: V–J day in Times Square, V–Day, etc.^[1]) Because Eisenstaedt was photographing rapidly changing events during the V-J celebrations he didn't get a chance to get names and details. The photograph does not clearly show the faces of either kisser and several people have laid claim to being the subjects. The photo was shot just south of 45th Street looking north from a location where Broadway (Manhattan) and Seventh Avenue (Manhattan) converge.

Contents 1 Another view 2 Who are the kissers? 2.1 Edith Shain 2.2 George Mendonça 2.3 Glenn McDuffie 3 Commemorations 4 References 5 See also 6 External links

Another view

U.S. Navy photo journalist Victor Jorgensen captured another view of the same scene, which was published in the New York Times.^[2] This photograph shows less of Times Square in the background and does not show the full body of either the sailor or the nurse. Unlike the Eisenstaedt photograph, this photograph is in the public domain (by virtue of being produced by a federal government employee).

Who are the kissers?

Life magazine reported in 1980 that 11 men and 3 women had come forward to claim to be the kissers and that did not include Glenn McDuffie who is described below.^[3]

Edith Shain

One Edith Shain wrote to Eisenstaedt in the late 70s claiming to be the woman in the picture.^[4] Shain was working at Doctor's Hospital in New York City when she and a friend heard on the radio that WWII had ended. They went to Times Square where all the celebrating was and as soon as she got off the subway, the sailor grabbed and kissed her. She thought she might as well let him kiss her since he fought for her in war. Shain did not tell the world who she was until many years later when she wrote Eisenstaedt a letter. Subsequently they became very good friends.

George Mendonça

George Mendonça of Newport, Rhode Island, was identified by the Naval War College in August 2005 as "the kisser". His claim was based on matching his scars and tattoos to scars and tattoos in the picture.^[4] They made their choice after much study including picture analysis by the Mitsubishi Electric Research Lab (MERL) in Cambridge, Mass., who were able to match scars and tattoo spotted by photo experts, and the testimony of one Richard M Benson a photo analysis expert and professor of photographic studies plus the former Dean of the School of Arts at Yale University. Mr Benson has stated that, "It is therefore my opinion, based upon a reasonable degree of certainty, that George Mendonsa is the sailor in Mr. Eisenstaedt's famous photograph."^[4] Mendonça, on leave from the USS The Sullivans (DD-537), was watching a movie with his date, future wife Rita Mendonsa, ^[4] at Radio City Music Hall when the doors opened and people started screaming the war was over. George and Rita took part in the partying on the street but when they couldn't get into the packed bars decided to walk down the street. It was then that George saw a nurse walk by and took her into his arms and kissed her, "I had quite a few drinks that day and I considered her one of the troops--she was a nurse."^[4] In one of the four pictures that Eisenstaedt took you can actually see Rita in the background behind the kissing couple^[4].

Glenn McDuffie

In 2007 Glenn McDuffie laid claim and was supported by Houston Police Department forensic artist Lois Gibson. ^[5] Gibson's forensic analysis compared the Eisenstaedt photos with current-day photos of McDuffie, analyzing key facial features identical on both sets.

She measured his ears, facial bones, hairline, wrist, knuckles and hand and compared those to enlargements of Eisenstaedt's picture.

"I could tell just in general that yes, it's him," said Gibson, a 25-year department veteran. "But I wanted to be able to tell other people so I replicated the pose."^[6]

McDuffie in the August 14, 2007, issue of AM New York said he has passed five polygraph tests confirming his claim.^[7] McDuffie says the photograph is of him. McDuffie says that on August 14, 1945, he and his friends were on the subway to Brooklyn to visit his girlfriend, Ardith Bloomfield.^[8] They came out of the subway at Times Square, where people were celebrating in the streets. McDuffie was jumping up and down when he saw a nurse nearby with her arms open. He ran over to her and kissed her, kissing her for a long time so that Eisenstadt could take the photo:

I went over there and kissed her and saw a man running at us...I thought it was a jealous husband or boyfriend coming to poke me in the eyes. I looked up and saw he was taking the picture and I kissed her as long as took for him to take it.

Commemorations

Since 2005 the event has been commemorated by an annual kiss in in Times Square. In 2005 J. Seward Johnson Jr made a sculpture based on Eisenstaedt's photo of V-J Day, titled Unconditional Surrender. The sculpture has been temporarily been put on display on the anniversary in subsequent years at the Times Square Information Center near the site of the kiss.

References

See also

• Dancing Man, an iconic image of V-J Day in Australia

External links

• Naval War College: VJ Day Sailor
• "Who is the kissing sailor?" (Life article from 1980)

• V–J day in Times Square is at coordinates 40°45′28″N 73°59′09″W / 40.757682, -73.98571Coordinates: 40°45′28″N 73°59′09″W / 40.757682, -73.98571