George Mendonsa, the U.S. Navy sailor from the iconic World War II V-Day kiss photo, passed away on Sunday.
Mendonsa became a historical icon when he impulsively kissed a woman in Times Square to celebrate the end of World War II on Aug. 14, 1945. According to a report by the Providence Journal, he passed away this weekend in an assisted living facility in Middletown, Rhode Island. He was 95 years old and just two days shy of his 96th birthday.
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Mendonsa’s daughter, Sharon Molleur, confirmed his passing. She said that arrangements for his funeral are not in place yet. She spoke to CNN about her father’s legacy and cultural impact.
“When I look at that photograph, I just think of my dad’s service, and how happy he was that it was all over,” Molleur said.
The picture was taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt and published by Life Magazine. The outlet was never fully convinced that Mendonsa was the man in the picture, though authors Lawrence Verria and George Galdorisi worked hard to prove that he was in their 2012 book The Kissing Sailor.
“The evidence is so overwhelming.” Verria said when news of Mendonsa’s passing broke. “There really is no doubt… This man deserves the credit during his lifetime.”
The authors employed modern facial recognition technology, experts in photography and forensice anthropology to confim that Mendonsa was in the picture and rule out other sailors. Mendonsa himself resented the doubt cast on him.
“I haven’t found a person yet that I haven’t convinced,” he told CNN in 2015. “And when I get through showing you the photos… if you don’t admit that, I’d say you’re a phony bastard.”
Mendonsa relayed the entire afternoon to reporters, remembering the excitement in the city. He was on leave at the time following a tour of duty in the Pacific. He was on a first date with Rita Petry, who would go on to be his wife of more than 70 years. They were seeing a matinee when a crowd outside began screaming “the war is over!”
“The booze was flying, and I popped quite a few,” he recalled. “We’re all drinking and raising hell.”
Mendonsa and Petry followed the throngs of revellers through Times Square, where he says he made an impulse decision to kiss the nurse coming his way.
“So we get into Times Square and the war ends and I see the nurse,” he said. “I had a few drinks, and it was just plain instinct, I guess. I just grabbed her.”
Years later, the woman in the photo was identified as Greta Zimmer Friedman. She and Mendonsa did not know each other. The nurse was just passing him on the street in the midst of the celebration. Friedman passed away in 2016 at the age of 92.
Mendonsa and Petry lived together in the assisted living home.
