Edith Shain, Nurse Kissing Sailor in Famous V-J Day Photo, Dies in Los Angeles at 91
NEW YORK (CBS) History buffs: Remember the iconic V-J day kiss between a nurse and an overjoyed American sailor in Times Square at the end of World War II in 1945? The woman in that famous photograph has died in Los Angeles. She was 91.
The young nurse's name was Edith Shain and at the time she worked at Doctor's Hospital in New York City. The iconic kiss in Times Square was captured by Life magazine photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt on Aug. 14, 1945.
Her identity was not known until the late 1970s when Shain contacted Eisenstaedt to say she was the woman in the picture.
The identity of the sailor is still not determined.
In 2008, Shain told the New York Daily News that she regretted never getting the young sailor's number. "In retrospect, I should have said, 'Hey, wait a minute!'" she told the newspaper.