Two different views. Must have been a 'long' kiss.
Posted on 08/12/2005 5:32:40 AM PDT by linkinpunk
Today: August 12, 2005 at 5:27:12 PDT
Nurse Recalls Famous Times Square Kiss
By PAT MILTON
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK (AP) -
A kiss is just a kiss - but not this kiss.
The photograph of the exuberant kiss by a sailor on the lips of a surprised nurse in Times Square remains, 60 years later, an iconic image of the day World War II ended.
"It was a very long kiss," Edith Cullen Shain, who says she is the nurse in the photo, recalled Thursday. "It was like a dance step, the way he laid me over in his arms."
Shain said she closed her eyes and never looked at the sailor.
"I just got lost in the moment," said Shain, now an 87-year-old great-grandmother from Santa Monica, Calif.
To Shain's delight, a life-size color sculpture by J. Seward Johnson based on the photograph was unveiled Thursday in bustling Times Square. It will be displayed through Monday.
Shain recalled the pandemonium on Aug. 14, 1945, the day of victory for the Allied forces over Japan, when people grabbed anyone and hugged and kissed each other.
"I let him kiss me because he had been in war and he fought for me," Shain said of the sailor. "I only wish now I had had a conversation with him or asked his name."
Unbeknownst to Shain, the smooch was snapped by Life magazine photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt. It was featured in the magazine the following week.
Shain, then 27, said she recognized herself when she saw the photograph but didn't tell anyone because she was "too embarrassed."
Soon after the photo ran, she moved to California, married twice and had three children. She gave up nursing and taught kindergarten for 30 years.
In 1979, she told Eisenstaedt in a letter that she was the nurse in his photo. She said Eisenstaedt, who died in 1995, flew out to California to interview her and confirmed that she was indeed the nurse.
But the sailor's identity remains a mystery.
More than 20 men have come forward through the years claiming to be the kisser. One went so far as to have digital images of his face taken to create a 3-D model, which was then aged and transferred to the face on a copy of the kiss photograph - and he claimed it was a match.
But Shain, who said she was kissed by only one sailor that day, thinks he will never be identified.
"There were so many people kissing," she said, "I think they all believe they are right."
Here you go. Everything you [don't] need to know about heteronormativity. :)
HETERONORMATIVITY
(heteronormative): Those punitive rules (social, familial, and legal) that force us to conform to hegemonic, heterosexual standards for identity. The term is a short version of "normative heterosexuality."
Here are more results from Google.
Passionate? From him, maybe. She appears unconscious.
He was obviously a great kisser! I think I would swoon too if DH grabbed me in a kiss like that =)
Gag...
Thank you.
Thank you. I just threw up.
Thank you. This is one new word I wish I hadn't learned.
The sailor wason Fox & Friends yesterday morning. It has been proven that he is the one. What's more, his wife-to-be wasstanding in the background. He said he kissed the nurse because nurses had evacuated and cared for some of his buddies after one of the battles.
See #28.
You can havethe photo.
I found it on Google.
The baby's wide-eyed look is pretty funny.
A special place in time in particular for me was the month of November, 1969 at the 93rd Evac in Long Binh, RVN.
Not a day has gone by since that I'm not thinking of them.
George Mendonsa, an 82-year-old retired fisherman who lives in Middletown, R.I., has insisted for decades that he's the man in the photo.
I have to admit I've always just loved looking at that picture....so much is in that one shot.
It's nice to know a bit of the story.
Nurses used to dress so well.
Two different views. Must have been a 'long' kiss.
> ... the kissing guy is Frank Sinatra.
Naw, that's my Dad kissing Mom.
At least, that's what they told me ;-)
Passionate? From him, maybe. She appears unconscious.
Maybe his kiss was so passionate she fainted. A girl couldn't ask for more than that!
We sure do, sis! :-)
I'm a happily married woman, but in this kind of situation, I'd let a sailer kiss me too!
Or maybe his breath was that bad.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.