After returning home from a tour of duty at sea, Life Magazine photographer Alfred Eisenstadt took this, perhaps the most famous photograph of two people kissing. The kiss symbolized so many emotions — an emotional release through which the entire nation could vicariously rejoice. The soldier and the nurse, in the middle of Times Square in 1945, were part of the very backbone of the American war effort. Years later the sailor came forth and identified himself as Glenn McDuffie.
Houston Police Department forensic artist Lois Gibson worked hard to find evidence that McDuffie was the sailor in the famous photograph. After a detailed investigation, it’s her official verdict that McDuffie, 80, is the man in the 1945 image.
Gibson said she thinks McDuffie’s claim is bolstered by his explanation for why the sailor’s left hand and wrist are twisted around the nurse’s face. He said he realized someone was taking the picture, so he moved his wrist and hand so the nurse’s face could be seen.
Source: Lozano, Juan A., “Forensics help identify sailor in famous kiss photo,” Associated Press, Aug 4, 2007