Blakely Durham
Professor Perkins
ENGL 1302
8 May 2013
Sailor Kissing Nurse Marks the End of World War II World War II was a very iconic and memorable time in American history. Because the war lasted for nearly seven years, the ending was an absolute celebration. The United Sates had come out on top and citizens all around the country rejoiced for weeks. Two people in particular, a sailor and a nurse, celebrated with a kiss. The kiss was photographed and is now known as “Sailor Kissing Nurse,” while also becoming one of the most highly influential pictures ever taken in American history. This photo not only marked the end of World War II (WWII), but it also gave Americans the sense of a new post-war beginning. The “Sailor Kissing …show more content…

Mendonsa did not know the nurse at the time and in fact was on a date with his girlfriend, now wife, Rita Mendonsa. The scene of Times Square, however, was so crazy that Mendonsa ended up grabbing the nurse and kissing her. The nurse, later identified as Greta Zimmer Friedman, was just as excited. Friedman was discovered to be the iconic nurse shortly after the photograph was published. She claimed that Mendonsa was a guy she couldn’t forget “grabbing [her]” (Daily Mail Reporter). She said that Mendonsa was “kissing her, [she] wasn’t kissing him” (Daily Mail Reporter). Friedman had only lived in the United Sates about six years when this photograph was taken. She fled from her home country, Austria, with her sister in 1939, shortly after the war had started. She worked as a war nurse and came to Times Square also in celebration of the war ending. Friedman’s kiss with Mendonsa became the most memorable celebration of the end of the war. Although she did not know him or what was even going on, the kiss became an iconic symbol and she appreciated that. The kiss shared between Mendonsa and Friedman on that fateful day marked the end of an era and of a long and vicious war. Without knowing the back story of these two, it seems as if they are dating or possibly in love. After learning that the two didn’t even know each other, it makes the kiss even more iconic. Because the pair had never even seen