It was an iconic image that captured the wild excitement that greeted the end of the Second World War.Over the years at least ten men have laid claim to be the one who planted the kiss on passing nurse Edith Shain on the VJ-day photo taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt on August 14, 1945 and made famous on the front cover of Life magazine.
A forensic artist now claims to have settled the matter once and for all, saying the mystery man is an 80-year-old US Navy veteran living on a trailer park in Texas.
Lois Gibson carried out extensive tests on Glenn McDuffie, including having him pose for photographs and re-creating the famous pose with a pillow instead of a nurse. She measured his facial features, wrist, knuckles and hand and compared them to the Life front cover, before concluding Mr McDuffie was the same man in the photo.
Mr McDuffie said he was changing trains in New York when he was told that Japan had surrendered and World War II was over. "I was so happy. I ran out in the street," Mr McDuffie told the Dallas Morning News. "And then I saw that nurse. She saw me hollering and with a big smile on my face. ... I just went right to her and kissed her."
Source: Telegraph
Tags: Iconic Photo | Photograph | WWII | World War 2 | Glenn McDuffie
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