Nurse in iconic sailor kiss image dies at 91

A NURSE famously photographed being kissed by an American sailor in New York’s Times Square in 1945 to celebrate the end of World War Two has died at the age of 91, her family said.

The V-J Day picture of the white-clad Edith Shain by photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt captured an epic moment in US history and became an iconic image marking the end of the war after being published in Life magazine.

The caption on the picture read: “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.”

The identity of the nurse in the photograph was not known until the late 1970s when Shain wrote to the photographer saying that she was the woman in the picture taken on August 14 at a time when she had been working at Doctor’s Hospital in New York City.

She said she let the American sailor grab her and kiss her, thinking that she might as well let him do so as the sailor had fought for her in the war.

The identity of the sailor remains disputed and unresolved.

From then on the photograph also made its mark on Shain’s life as the fame she garnered led to invites to war-related events such a wreath layings, parades and other memorial events.

“My mom was always willing take on new challenges and caring for the World War II veterans energised her to take another chance to make a difference,” her son Justin Decker said in a statement.

Shain, who died at her home in Los Angeles on Sunday, leaves behind three sons, six grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.