George Mendonsa, sailor kissing woman in iconic V-J Day photo, dies

[jpak]

Source: CBS News

Providence, R.I. -- The ecstatic sailor shown kissing a woman in Times Square celebrating the end of World War II has died. George Mendonsa was 95.

Mendonsa's daughter, Sharon Molleur, told The Providence Journal Mendonsa fell and had a seizure Sunday at the assisted living facility in Middletown, Rhode Island, where he lived with his wife of 70 years.

Mendonsa was shown kissing Greta Zimmer Friedman, a dental assistant in a nurse's uniform, on Aug. 14, 1945. Known as V-J Day, it was the day Japan surrendered to the United States.

The photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt became one of the most famous photographs of the 20th century.

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Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sailor-kissing-woman-iconic-v-j-day-photo-george-mendonsa-dead-at-95/

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[Dennis Donovan]

1. A picture that explained the relief of every American that day...

My Dad, who had just helped win the war in Europe, was likely not looking forward to repeating the experience, so this (and the more famous) pic must've been the biggest relief for him.

[madaboutharry]

2. They did not know each other, he simply grabbed her off the street.

Back then no one knew the correct name for this. Her clenched fist gives a clue. It was an assault.

I have always found this photo disturbing. I am sure that Mr. Mendonsa did not act with malice, but he acted with a complete disregard for Ms. Friedman's dignity.

[NurseJackie]

3. You've described it perfectly.

[jcgoldie]

13. good post

It's always a quagmire trying to judge historical figures by todays standards, but its hard not to at least recognize the cultural level of misogyny when everyone thought it was just perfectly fine to grab up a woman and have your way with her in the street. What a great way to celebrate.

[eggplant]

19. +1 :(

[obamanut2012]

4. ie the stranger who sexually assaulted her

He grabbed her, bent her over, and forced his tongue into her mouth.

She received flak later in life for stating she wasn't pleased he did that to her, so started "softening" her feelings, like society tells women to do.

[demmiblue]

7. +1

[lunamagica]

27. How do you know he forced her tongue into her mouth?

[WhiskeyGrinder]

5. It says a lot about this country that the photo of an assault is seen as a celebration.

[Bengus81]

6. How were these sailors in NYC on the day Japan surrendered?

Seems strange they would already be there. My dad served in China/Burma/India and didn't make it home for over a month after the surrender.

[Nitram]

8. Many Navy personnel never boarded a ship.

[murielm99]

9. My dad served there, too.

After the surrender, he was sent from Burma to China. He served as an MP for quite a while, some months, before they sent him home.

I wish I could ask him for details, but he is no longer with us.

[DirtEdonE]

10. My dad served in Europe

My father-in-law served in the Pacific.

I never got to know my father and my father-in-law never spoke much of WWII.

They're both gone now. They took their stories with them.

I wonder sometimes what they'd think of what we've done to this nation today?

They fought the Axis powers. Now we have our own hitler on this side of the Atlantic.

[murielm99]

11. When we were growing up,

my dad only spoke of the things they did on leave. He talked about sightseeing. It was years before he told us anything else.

A few years before he died, he gave an oral history of his service to someone who was chronicling the war in the Burma theater for a book. I have never seen that book. My mother is not much of a reader, and I don't know if she even has a copy.

[DirtEdonE]

12. What they went through

Was many times too horrible for words.

We have our lives and our way of life to thank them for. We have to rid ourselves of the menace of trump to show them our true appreciation for their massive sacrifice.

[Bengus81]

23. My dad was what became known as a CBI.....

Building gasoline pipelines into China for the possible invasion of Japan. Japan surrendered,took them some time to pack up some of their stuff--the left a hell of a lot of equipment. I know when he came home they got to stop in Honolulu for some R&R. You can only imagine what that would have been like after years of living and working in the jungle.

Finally made it back home to Kansas about a month later as yellow as could be with malaria. They gave them pills while in the jungle (later found out to be depressants) which would keep you from getting full blown malaria but not totally stop it.

[3Hotdogs]

14. Brooklyn Navy Yard. Lakehurst Naval Air Station

Those are two places he might have come from.

[sarisataka]

15. Many who served during WW2

never left CONUS.

Even in a major war not every military person is at the front. A few actually do the fighting, many more are behind the lines in support roles and another large number are outside of the war zones in supply, administrative and training duties.

Being navy he could even have been assigned to ships on convoy duty. They would have had a lot of free time at the end points as the ships load or unload

[Canoe52]

16. FIL was a sailor in Europe and was back in the US on his way to the Pacific when

Japan surrendered. He talked about what a relief it was to get the news.

This guy may have been on his way to the Pacific also.

[aggiesal]

17. Statue was made of that picture ...

It's next to the USS Midway (background) in San Diego Harbor.
A sailors kiss next to an aircraft carrier.

Will be forever immortalized.

[eggplant]

20. At least they accurately captured her clenched fist.

[Harker]

18. Same photo, different time.

From jubilant, deserving victor to licentious, entitled assaulter by way of the lens of time.

Surely, he always appeared the latter to many since then.

That fewer see the former shows that we're evolving, slowly, as a society.

[PSPS]

21. The replies on this thread are kind of silly

Greta Zimmer Friedman was the 21-year-old woman in the photo. These armchair interpretations of "assaulted," "clenched fist," "tongue in mouth" and what not are insane. I suppose this is to be expected because most people alive today can't fathom the mindset of being involved in a world war. The woman herself described it in several interviews and didn't feel "assaulted" at all, despite the popularity today of telling people what their "proper" feelings should be. Here's an example from an interview with Patricia Redmond in 2005:

Greta Zimmer Friedman:

Well, I was working in a dental office on Lexington Avenue for two brothers, JD and JL Burke, and all morning long people would come in and say there seems to be rumors that the war is ending. And since I wasn't very far from Times Square, I could just walk over there and see for myself. And so after my bosses came back at 1:00 from their lunch hour, excuse me, I went straight to Times Square where I saw on the lighted billboard that goes around the building, V-J Day, V-J Day, and that really -- that really confirmed what the people have said in the office. And so suddenly I was grabbed by a sailor, and it wasn't that much of a kiss, it was more of a jubilant act that he didn't have to go back, I found out later, he was so happy that he did not have to go back to the Pacific where they already had been through the war. And the reason he grabbed someone dressed like a nurse was that he just felt very grateful to nurses who took care of the wounded. And so I had to go back to the office, and I told my bosses what I had seen. And they said, Cancel all the appointments, we're closing the office. So they left, and I canceled all the appointments and went home.

Patricia Redmond:

Okay. Let's get back to the kissing sailor. When he grabbed you and gave you a kiss, what did you feel like?

Greta Zimmer Friedman:

I felt he was very strong, he was just holding me tight, and I'm not sure I -- about the kiss because, you know, it was just somebody really celebrating. But it wasn't a romantic event. It was just an event of thank God the war is over kind of thing because it was right in front of the sign.

Patricia Redmond:

Did he say anything to you when he kissed you?

Greta Zimmer Friedman:

No, no. It was just an act of silence.

Patricia Redmond:

He just grabbed you, gave you a kiss, and then was gone?

Greta Zimmer Friedman:

Oh, yeah, we both -- we both left, went on our own way. And I found out later that he and his fiancee I think at the time, they probably were engaged already, they had come from Radio City Music Hall. They also heard that the war was over. So they just left the show. They never even saw the whole show and went to Times Square because if you needed to know the latest news, there it was.

[Raine]

22. Agree nt

[Bengus81]

24. I agree,it would have been a crazy,relief,joy feeling we'll hopefully never know.....

After a few drinks on the news that it was finally over I might have done something as brazen myself.

[obamanut2012]

25. Nope, they are not

But congrats for helping to normalize this behavior and allowing others to agree this behavior is A-OK.

You neither wonder nor realize why she said what she said, and you don;t care why she said what she said.

This is assault.

[TJKay]

26. No matter my elation over something so momentous as the end of a world war...

I cant imagine grabbing a random person off the street off the street and engaging in such an unrequited act. Unfotunately, too many of us today would still feel entitled to do somehing similar.

A person would absolutley be within their rights to self defense in a similar situation. If a person was packing and another person grabbed them like that and the victim shot the perp, I'd have no problem with it, notwithstanding mu opposition to guns.

[Polybius]

28. RIP to a true iconic American hero

Smooth sailing, sailor.