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The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) abandoned plans Tuesday to remove an iconic World War II-era photo from its facilities due to an alleged lack of “inclusivity.” The move came following backlash that emerged immediately after the decision was leaked earlier that day. In a memo issued last Thursday, VA undersecretary RimaAnn Nelson requested agency officials remove the “V-J Day in Times Square” photo from all Veterans Health Administration facilities, in compliance with the VA’s goal of “maintaining a safe, respectful, and trauma-informed environment.” Taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt in 1945, the iconic photograph depicts a Navy sailor kissing a female...

Victory in Japan Day - or VJ Day - was celebrated on 15 August 1945 and it marked the end of World War Two. As the name would suggest, 15 August 1945 was the moment that the Allies - that is Britain, the US and other countries that were fighting together - marked victory over Japan. After days of rumours about it, US President Harry S Truman broke the news at a press conference at the White House at 7pm on 14 August. Later at midnight, Britain's new prime minister Clement Atlee confirmed it, saying: "The last of our enemies...

President William Howard Taft had stated at a missionary conference in 1908: "No man can study the movement of modern CIVILIZATION from an impartial standpoint, and not realize that Christianity and the spread of Christianity are the basis of hope of modern CIVILIZATION in the growth of popular self government. The spirit of Christianity is pure democracy. It is equality of man before God - the equality of man before the law, which is, as I understand it, the most God-like manifestation that man has been able to make." In 1923, in his last public address, titled "The Road Away...

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.

On this day in 1945, news broke around the world the Imperial Government of Japan would surrender ending a long a grueling world war. In Europe, the date was August 15 due to the time zone, but regardless the celebrations that broke out were no less zealous.

An American sailor named George Mendonsa spontaneously takes hold of a complete stranger, 21-year-old Austrian-Jewish refugee Greta Zimmer, bends her backward, plants a kiss on her mouth and continues on his way. Unbeknown to either, famed photojournalist Alfred Eisenstaedt has captured the encounter. The resulting image, published soon after in Life magazine, came to symbolize the exuberance of that moment, in a country overflowing with vigor and youth, at a time when anything seemed possible.....In 2012, a London-based blogger who uses the pseudonym Leopard wrote a provocative post on Crates and Ribbons titled “The Kissing Sailor, or ‘The Selective Blindness...

VJ Day Kiss - 70 years ago 70 years ago ... August 14, 1945 was the dawn, ending those dark days from 1939 - 1945 which were marked by a horrific world war. World War II left no continent untouched and a devastating body count. With causalities approaching 70 million, it may have been the worst war in recorded human history, such seen in this interactive video: The Fallen of World War II on Vimeo But as the Psalmist wrote: "... weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." Psalm 30:5 (KJV) Finally the night of...

The party started early on VJ Day. Though the official announcement that World War II ended wasn't made until closer to 7pm on Aug. 14, 1945, a scientific assessment of the famous photo of the couple kissing in celebration, called "VJ Day in Times Square" and widely known as "The Kiss," reveals the duo actually locked lips before then—at 5:51pm Eastern, to be precise. So reports a team of scientists that includes a physicist and astronomer in the August issue of Sky & Telescope magazine. While they can't say with certainty who the couple is, they've used clues in the...

Photo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kissing_the_War_Goodbye.jpg Above is the lesser known photo taken by Lt. Victor Jorgensen of a sailor kissing a passing nurse on VJ Day in Times Square. The most famous and iconic picture of this same subject - VJ Day in Times Square - taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt, was published in LIFE in 1945 with the caption, In New York's Times Square a white-clad girl clutches her purse and skirt as an uninhibited sailor plants his lips squarely on hers. August 14, 1945 in New York City was a magical moment - a confluence of history, a place, and everyday people....

Glenn Edward McDuffie, the young sailor from Houston who can be seen in one of the most iconic photos from the end of World War II, has died, according to family members. The Navy veteran was 86. McDuffie was 18 when he said he was captured in the famous kiss photo with nurse Edith Shain. “I heard someone running and stopping right in front of us. I raised my head up, and it was a photographer,” McDuffie told the Houston Chronicle in 2007. “I tried to get my hand out of the way so I wouldn’t block her face, and...

Glenn McDuffie was 18 years old the day World War II ended. Having just exited a New York subway station at Times Square, McDuffie, a sailor, heard the news, grabbed a nurse and kissed her. Photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt captured the the moment, which became synonymous with V-J day—August 14, 1945. McDuffie died March 9 in Dallas. He was 86 years old, according to the Associated Press.

As first dates go, Rita Petry thought this one was pretty great: a beautiful summer afternoon in the city, a matinee at Radio City Music Hall, drinks after, followed by a passionate, soon-to-be-iconic kiss. Well, maybe not the kiss: Her handsome young suitor, it turns out, planted that on another woman. Such is the incredible story behind one of the most romantic and enduring photos of the 20th century — and one of our most compelling mysteries. Since Aug. 14, 1945, the identities of the smooching sailor and the nurse in Alfred Eisenstaedt’s Times Square V-J Day photograph have never...

How it was 1945, on VJ Day. Kodachrome 16mm film. Honolulu.

65 Years Ago my Dad shot this film along Kalakaua Ave. in Waikiki capturing spontaneous celebrations that broke out upon first hearing news of the Japanese surrender. Kodachrome 16mm film: God Bless Kodachrome, right? I was able to find an outfit (mymovietransfer.com) to do a much superior scan of this footage to what I had previously posted, so I re-did this film and replaced the older version There are more still images from this amazing day, in color, at discoveringhawaii.com

65 Years Ago my Dad shot this film along Kalakaua Ave. in Waikiki capturing spontaneous celebrations that broke out upon first hearing news of the Japanese surrender. Kodachrome 16mm film: God Bless Kodachrome, right?

Richard Sullivan: 65 Years Ago my Dad shot this film along Kalakaua Ave. in Waikiki capturing spontaneous celebrations that broke out upon first hearing news of the Japanese surrender.

VJ Day, Honolulu Hawaii, August 14, 1945 from Richard Sullivan on Vimeo.65 Years Ago my Dad shot this film along Kalakaua Ave. in Waikiki capturing spontaneous celebrations that broke out upon first hearing news of the Japanese surrender. Kodachrome 16mm film: God Bless Kodachrome, right? I was able to find an outfit (mymovietransfer.com) to do a much superior scan of this footage to what I had previously posted, so I re-did this film and replaced the older version There are more still images from this amazing day, in color, at discoveringhawaii.com

Any Japanese film concerning WWII is going to be closely scrutinized by Japanese and international audiences alike. Most Japanese films produced in the first few decades following the war focus on human tragedy while keeping away from anything that could be construed as glorifying combat or defending Japan’s military adventurism. To avoid possible offense, American and Allied Forces in Japanese productions have usually been faceless, instead being represented by their machines of war (as opposed to contemporary Hollywood productions that often include rather negative stereotypes of Japanese soldiers). Americans and the Allied Forces are also rarely even named, usually referred...

Aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, Japan formally surrenders to the Allies, bringing an end to World War II. By the summer of 1945, the defeat of Japan was a foregone conclusion. The Japanese navy and air force were destroyed. The Allied naval blockade of Japan and intensive bombing of Japanese cities had left the country and its economy devastated. At the end of June, the Americans captured Okinawa, a Japanese island from which the Allies could launch an invasion of the main Japanese home islands. U.S. General Douglas MacArthur was put in charge of the invasion, which was...

Today is August 14th. In honor of VJ day, I have composed an article (satire) from 1947, published by the Japan News Agency (English version) a few years after the end of the war. --------------- August 14th, 1947 Proposed New Super-Church for Hiroshima Japan News Agency Staff Reporter Li Wei Today on the anniversary of the American cessation of hostilities with Japan, it has been announced that one of the largest Christian denominations, The Presbyterian Church USA, is building a 500 billion yen (30 million US$) church complex just two blocks from the impact point of the nuclear bomb that...