Seven decades ago, Petty Officer 1st Class George Mendonsa and his date were among the hordes in Times Square celebrating Japan’s surrender and the end of World War II when Mendonsa grabbed what he thought was a nurse (she was a dental assistant), leaned her back and kissed her in a fit of emotion. Life magazine photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt captured the moment, and as they say, the rest is history. The iconic photo came to represent the relief and excitement over the war’s end, but Eisenstaedt never got his subjects’ names. On the photo’s 40th anniversary, Life asked the nurse and…
Browsing: WWII
A movie about one of the great maritime disasters of World War II had a little disaster of its own. A WWII-era Navy sea plane broke up during shooting for an upcoming movie about the sinking of the USS Indianapolis near the end of WWII. A PBY aircraft used to stage the rescue of survivors was being used for the shoot started leaking as it was floating on the surface of the water, said Elizabeth Wolfe, spokeswoman for the film “USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage.” The film crew had to evacuate the plane for safety reasons. The crew attempted to…
A Coast Guardsman who earned a Navy Cross for actions during combat operations in Guadalcanal was buried June 5 in Lakewood, Wash. Retired Cmdr. Ray Evans, whose actions during World War II earned him the Navy’s second-highest award for valor, was part of the a mission to rescue Marines along with Douglas Munro, the Coast Guard’s only Medal of Honor recipient. Evans and Munro were known as “The Gold Dust Twins.” They were both from Washington State and joined the Coast Guard together in 1939. They subsequently served together in New York before entering the history books in the South…
