The nurse kissed by an ecstatic sailor in New York’s Times Square celebrating the end of World War II, has died, her son Joshua Friedman confirmed to NBC News. She was 92.
Greta Zimmer Friedman died Thursday at a Richmond, Virginia, hospital of what her son called complications from old age.
Friedman was thrust into the spotlight in 1980 when Life magazine published the iconic photo in an issue asking for the sailor, later identified as George Mendonsa, and nurse to come forward. Mendonsa, a sailor on leave overjoyed that Japan surrendered, grabbed Friedman as she entered Time Square. She was a 21-year-old dental assistant at the time.
Unbeknownst to either, noted Life magazine photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt captured the moment on Aug. 14, 1945, and published it a few weeks later. It became one of the most famous photographs of the 20th century.
"I realized the photo means a lot to so many people," Joshua Friedman said. "My mother always felt like it wasn't anything she did, it was something that happened to her."
She married Misha Friedman who served as a general infantry in the military and is interred in Arlington Cemetery, her son told NBC News.
"She'll be put in there next to him," Joshua said. "It seems fitting."
