Nurse In Iconic WWII 'Kissing' Photo To Receive Honors From Navy

November 10, 2008 8:33 a.m. EST

New York, NY (AHN) - Her image of being bent backward and receiving a passionate kiss from a sailor in Times Square, New York on Aug. 15, 1945 after the surrender of Japan, formally ending World War II, has become one of the most iconic pictures of the 20th Century.

Now, 90-years-old Edith Shain of Los Angeles, who claims to be the young woman kissed by the sailor and captured in photo by Life magazine photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt, will be honored by the Navy on Veterans Day on Tuesday.

Shain, a retired nurse and kindergarten teacher, was actually one of the several women who came forward to claim they were the woman kissed by a sailor during the V-J Parade on Broadway and 45th Street, just as Eisenstaedt flashed his camera capturing the image forever.

According to her recollection, Shain said she just came from the hospital to join the celebration on Times Square marking the end of World War II when a sailor grabbed and kissed her.

She said she was not able to get the name of the sailor because she turned one way and the sailor turned the other.

Shain described the end of the war as "a wonderful experience" and said the photo represents so many feelings about it: "hope, love, peace and tomorrow."

She wrote a letter to Life in 1980 to claim that she was the woman in the photograph. Eisenstaedt visited her in California, but the photographer was not able to identify if she was indeed the nurse. Eisenstaedt died in 1995.

Life ran an article on the subject and asked the real sailor and the nurse to come forward.

But several nurses and dozens of sailors came forward to claim they were on the picture.

Shain was chosen as the most likely "candidate" as the real nurse because of her persistence and "charm."