You may have heard the news that the sailor photographed kissing a nurse in a now iconic moment has passed away. George Mendonsa was 95 and passed just two days shy of his 96^th birthday.

The famous picture was taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt in the streets of New York as people celebrated the end of World War II. Mendonsa, who was a complete stranger to dental assistant Greta Zimmer Friedman, grabbed her during the excitement and planted a kiss on her in Times Square.

The story behind that V-J Day kiss on August 14, 1945 is not as black and white as it may seem. Before that day, the two didn’t know each other, and it was more than 30 years later when they saw one another again, when Life magazine launched a search for the unidentified couple in the pic.

After a friend recognized him, Mendonsa came forward, but it took a while for anyone to believe it was him and Friedman in the photo. There were millions of kisses in the swarming crowd that day, so many others claimed to be the pair. Funny enough, Mendonsa’s date looked on as he kissed another woman for those legendary 10 seconds. Not only did she witness it, but she is now his wife.

Check out this video from CBS to learn more about that special moment and to hear bits from Mendonsa and Friedman’s 2012 interview. Friedman died in 2016 at age 92.

 

Did you know that story that’s attached to this famous picture? Were you aware that the pair had been identified years ago? Have you ever been so excited that you kissed a stranger?