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Posted on 08/14/2004 11:32:17 PM PDT by snippy_about_it
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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 The Kiss and more It seems as if everybody's claiming to be the sailor--or the nurse he's kissing--in the famous photograph taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt for LIFE magazine 50 years ago on V-J Day, August 14, 1945. The most recent claimant is Carl "Moose" Muscarello, an ex-cop from New York, who has been identified by the self-proclaimed then-nurse, Edith Shain as the man who kissed her in Times Square. They've appeared on television last week to broadcast their claims. But LIFE magazine has never identified the couple in the historic embrace--and probably never will. In the past, some dozen ex-sailors have claimed to be the amorous seaman. And at least two other former nurses have identified themselves as his partner in Eisenstaedt's classic image.  From the August 1980 issue of LIFE, EDITH SHAIN SAYS SHE'S THE V-J DAY NURSE Who was the Nurse? Edith Shain had just begun her nursing career when she went to see the V-J Day melee--and was promptly set upon. Then single, she was unastonished--"at that time in my life everyone was kissing me." She recognized herself in LIFE but kept her secret. "I didn't think it was dignified but times have changed." Now, a teacher, part-time nurse and a grandmother, Mrs. Shain, Eisie says, is the "vivacious, lovely woman." WHO IS THE KISSING SAILOR? Our story so far: It all started coming back to pretty Edith Shain as she studied once more the famous picture of the nurse being embraced by the sailor there in Times Square that glorious V-J Day 35 years ago. She decided the time had come to declare her identity as the woman in Alfred Eisenstaedt's photograph. Eisie, delighted with the discovery, flew to Beverly Hills to photograph Edith as she appears today at 62--and that story ran in LIFE in August, 1980, along with a request for the real sailor to please step forward. Thus it was that memories stirred old seafaring hearts across the land, moments of danger and tossing seas and those too-brief winsome moments ashore. Then, most vividly, that unforgetable day--August 15, 1945--when any swabbie worth his bell-bottoms kissed any girl within reach.  No fewer than 10 sailors, as well as two more nurses, have managed to recall to the last detail how it happened and how they happened to be in Times Square--persuading us that all their stories are true. But who is in the picture?       |
And I just bet the nurse was msdrby?
I don't doubt it a bit. :-)
Is this it?
Yep, I went back to the future, before going forward to the past.
To capture what has become perhaps his most reproduced image, the kiss in Times Square on V-J Day, Eisenstaedt had been following the sailor who was "running along the street grabbing any and every girl in sight. Whether she was a grandmother, stout, thin, old, didn't make any difference. None of the pictures that were possible pleased me. Then, suddenly in a flash I saw something white being grabbed. I turned around and clicked the moment the sailor kissed the nurse." In 1991 he told a New York Times reporter, "Although I am 92, my brain is 30 years old." To prove it he recalled that to shoot that victory kiss he used 1/125 second exposure, aperture between 5.6 and 8 on Kodak Super Double X film.
History Channel interviewed D-Day survivors, one of whom was called by his sergeant to come to his aid--
--when a sniper exploded the sergeant's head. "What was left of his head settled back to the sand."
He recounts crawling from dead soldier to dead soldier for cover, past body parts, amazed at those still alive--
--despite being blown to pieces.
The brave raid by a dozen men which silenced the four German guns (a Foxhole classic).
The destroyer captains who came in close to the beach and destroyed the pillboxes with direct fire. (ditto)
And PBS covering Kofi Annan visits Japan's Prime Sushi:
The impossibly arrogant woman plenipotentiary informing the photojournalists they would have, "nine-tee sec-onds, nine-tee sec-onds own-lee, no sound. . .no sound".
Kofi whose corrupt negligence facilitated the machete hackicide of a million Rwandan's (an france he'ped!)
When it was time for Japan to apologize for causing the war which slaughtered tens of millions: "no sound, no sound".
My favorite photo of that war:
But Jean-Faux Kerrybodia promises to wage a more sensitive war on terrorism:
Whoa! Expensive town. I was up for a Thanksgiving weekend just to see what Vegas was like.
I thought all you hero's did that?
Evening Phil Dragoo.
Thanks for the compliments. I Was reading "D-Day: The First 24 Hours" and Snippy and I started talking about all the countries the US has liberated, helped whenever a disaster struck or defended from attack. Many of these same countries now turn their backs on us or outright try to actively work against us. I tell you it's enough to turn a person into an isolationist.
The UN has been a worthless, bash America, mouthpiece since the late 50's. I wish there was one politician with the guts enough to kick them out of the US and pull us out of the UN.
Thanks for the post and the compliment Phil. You are a Foxhole classic, too.
At a time of doldrums we may launch a worthwhile project, the modest proposal of evicting the UNuchs to free the structure for a USO.
BTTT!!!!!!!
Nicely done. Thanks.
My Dad wasn't on a ship, but after fighting across western Eurpoe with the 8th Infantry division, he was training for the invasion of Japan when the bomb was dropped. He stated numerous times that Harry Truman saved his life by giving the order to drop the bomb. He was quickly mustered out of the Army, as evidenced by his marriage on October 20 1945 to a girl he met while on manoeuvers in Tennessee in 1941 or 42.
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