The Kissing Sailor

On August 14, 1945, Alfred Eisenstaedt took a picture of a sailor kissing a nurse in Times Square, minutes after they had learned of Japan’s surrender to the United States. LIFE magazine published that photograph two weeks later. From then on everyone who saw the picture knew what it felt like when World War II ended, and they wanted to know more.

In the coming years, Eisenstaedt’s photo grew in fame and popularity. In 1979 Eisenstaedt thought he discovered the long lost nurse in his photograph; for the next thirty years almost everyone assumed Edith Shain was the woman that the assertive World War II sailor kissed, and in 1980 LIFE attempted to determine the sailor’s identity. However, the campaign confused matters more than they clarified them. Soon afterward LIFE stepped aside from the wave they helped put into motion, and decided the sailor would remain anonymous.

While LIFE took a backseat to the growing controversy, experts weighed in to support one candidate over another. Some readers supported Carl Muscarello; many thought Ken McNeel was the kissing sailor and others believed it was Glenn McDuffie. But most who read about the competing claims didn’t know what to think. As the real kissing sailor aged, a national treasure’s story went untold.

The Kissing Sailor calls attention to the overwhelming forces that plotted to prevent the photographed meeting. A war, a typhoon, and genocide tried to slaughter the photograph’s three main participants, but the photographer, the sailor and the dental assistant survived the destructive powers that killed millions. On the day World War II ended, the spared and the saved crossed paths in Times Square.