Cover Story: The wife of the famous ‘kissing sailor’ is in the iconic 1945 photo – and it’s not the nurse

You don't have to be a history buff to be familiar with Alfred Eisenstaedt's "Kissing Sailor" photo — though its actual title is "V-J Day in Times Square." It was taken hours before President Truman officially announced America's victory in the Pacific War. The sailor in the photo happened to be on a date in New York City. He suddenly decided to celebrate by kissing the closest nurse — it's just too bad his date wasn't a nurse.

Authors George Galdorisi and Lawrence Verria did an extensive background study on the photo in their 2012 book, The Kissing Sailor. Their extensive forensic analysis determined that sailor was George Mendonsa and the nurse was Greta Zimmer Friedman. Friedman was not prepared for the kiss. In later years, she admitted that she didn't even see him coming and that the two were strangers.

Friedman was working in a dental office at nearby Lexington Avenue, and though the war hadn't officially ended, the rumors around NYC were swirling that Imperial Japan was set to surrender. She went over to Time Square to read the latest news, and sure enough, the electronic tickers all read "V-J DAY, V-J DAY." That's when Mendonsa grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her in.

Sailor George Mendonsa. V-J Day in Times Square, a photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt, was published in Life in 1945.

"It wasn't that much of a kiss, it was more of a jubilant act that he didn't have to go back," she told a Veteran's History Project Interview. "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."

He grabbed a nurse because he was so grateful to nurses who tended the wounded in the war. The good news was her bosses cancelled the rest of the appointments for the day. The bad news was she never knew the sailor's name. She never even saw the photo until the 1960s. What she did know was that Mendonsa had been drinking (he was likely drunk).

Then-Navy Quartermaster 1st Class George Mendonsa was on 30 days leave from his ship, The Sullivans, at the time. He had been at the helm during the Battle of Okinawa, rescuing sailors from the carrier Bunker Hill after it was hit by kamikaze attacks. It's small wonder he was happy to not have to go back into combat.

He was on a date with his then-girlfriend, Rita Perry, a woman that would later become his wife, waiting for his train back to the West Coast and back to the war. That's when he heard the news that the war was over.

Rita can be seen just over Mendonsa's right shoulder.

Former Navy Quartermaster 1st Class George Mendonsa and his wife, Rita, celebrate George's birthday. (Photo by Hal Burke)

By the time The Kissing Sailor hit bookshelves, Rita Perry (now Mendonsa) and George Mendonsa had been married for 66 years. When asked about her feelings being in the background of a famous photo of her husband, 95 years old as of 2018, kissing another woman, she said, "he's never kissed me like that."