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Nurse in iconic “Times Square Kiss” photo dies at 91

Time Life Pictures / Getty Images

Time Life Pictures / Getty Images

Edith Shain, the nurse depicted in one of the most famous and iconic photos celebrating Japan's surrender and the end of WWII, died at her home in Los Angeles.  She was 91.

Although Life magazine photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt never got the names of the people in his famous photo, Shain wrote the photographer in the 1970's claiming to be the woman depicted.  The sailor remains unknown.

She had this to say in 2008, when she was grand marshal of New York's Veterans Day parade:

"I went from Doctors Hospital to Times Square that day because the war was over, and where else does a New Yorker go?  And this guy grabbed me and we kissed, and then I turned one way and he turned the other. There was no way to know who he was, but I didn't mind because he was someone who had fought for me."

"As for the picture, it says so many things - hope, love, peace and tomorrow. The end of the war was a wonderful experience, and that photo represents all those feelings."

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