8-13-12: An Iconic Kiss

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Kiss-0813.mp3

This conversation originally aired in June 2012.

Tomorrow's V-J Day, and we’re celebrating a photo you’ve probably seen before – a sailor kissing a woman in a white nurse’s uniform in the middle of Times Square.  It was August 14, 1945, just moments after Japan’s surrender had been announced. The picture was taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt, and it ended up on the cover of Life magazine.  It became one of the most famous photos of the 20th century. Larry Vierra and George Galdorisi identified the sailor and the woman in the white uniform in their book The Kissing Sailor: The Mystery Behind the Photo that Ended World War II as Greta Zimmer Friedman and George Mendona.  He now lives in Rhode Island, and Greta lives here in Frederick.

We speak with both of them about what brought the two of them together that day in New York.