Greta Friedman, believed to be woman kissed in iconic V-J Day photo, dead at 92
Greta Friedman, who was believed to be kissed by a sailor in New York’s Times Square in an iconic picture symbolizing the end of World War II, has died, her son Joshua Friedman confirmed to CBS News. She was 92.
Joshua Friedman said his mother died on Thursday and that she had been in an assisted living facility for the past two years and developed health complications.
Greta Friedman will be laid to rest with her late husband, Mischa Elliot Friedman, who is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
She was believed to be in one of the most famous pictures of the 20th century, the moment Americans learned of a Japanese surrender.
“I did not see him approaching, and before I know it I was in this tight grip,” Friedman told CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller in 2012.
George Mendonsa said he’s the sailor in the photograph that would come to symbolize the end of World War II, and Friedman was the “nurse” in white. (She was actually a dental assistant.)
“It was the moment that you come back from the Pacific, and finally the war ends,” Mendonsa said.
Mendonsa said he didn’t kiss her for long.
As the perfect strangers locked lips, world famous photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt snapped four pictures in just 10 seconds. CBS News reunited Mendonsa and Friedman in 2012 at the spot of their kiss for just the second time since that day in 1945.
“The excitement of the war bein’ over, plus I had a few drinks,” Mendonsa said, “so when I saw the nurse I grabbed her, and I kissed her.”