George Mendonsa, kissing sailor in iconic WWII photo

MIDDLETOWN — George A. Mendonsa, who claimed to be the sailor kissing the nurse in the iconic photo taken in Times Square at the end of World War II, and whose claim was verified by recent technology, died early Sunday, two days short of his 96th birthday.

Mendonsa's daughter, Sharon Molleur of Portsmouth, said he and her mother, who had been married more than 70 years, lived in an assisted living facility in Middletown. Molleur said she got a call at 1:30 a.m. Sunday saying that he had fallen and, moments later, had a seizure and died.

For 74 years, Mendonsa maintained that he was the sailor in the photo, but he was never able to convince Life magazine, which published the photo, one of four taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt, as "V-J Day in Times Square."

Lawrence Verria, coauthor with George Galdorisi of "The Kissing Sailor," published in 2012 by the Naval Institute Press, met Mendonsa "strictly as a topic of research." His goal was to "find out who was in the pictures and let him tell the story."

Results of facial recognition technology and the conclusions of experts in photography and forensic anthropology ruled out all the other sailors. "The evidence is so overwhelming." Verria said Sunday night. "There really is no doubt.... This man deserves the credit during his lifetime."

In a piece written Sunday and intended for the Providence Journal's Commentary page, Verria, 57, head of the social studies department at North Kingstown High School, called Mendonsa a national treasure.

A fisherman and the son of a fisherman, Mendonsa knew how to handle a boat. In the Navy during WWII, he successfully maneuvered his destroyer through Typhoon Cobra, which flipped three other destroyers, Verria said. Mendonsa was at the helm of The Sullivans, named after the five brothers who were all serving on the USS Juneau and all died when it sank during World War II.

Mendonsa also told Verria why he kissed the woman in the nurse's uniform in Times Square. The Sullivans had been sent to rescue the survivors of the USS Bunker Hill after a kamikaze attack, and he was steering when it pulled alongside the Bountiful, a nursing ship, to transfer the wounded. Mendonsa watched from the helm as the nurses worked on the sailors. "They were in a bad way," he kept saying, when he told the story to Verria.

He happened to be in Times Square, on leave, when the end of the war was announced. "He sees the nurse, he can't help himself," Verria said. The woman in white symbolized the nurses he saw helping those sailors he had helped rescue, and he grabbed her and kissed her.

"It's what everybody was doing on August 14, 1945," Verria said. "Everybody was kissing and hugging. As soon as the kiss was over, they went their separate ways," and neither knew of the picture until years later.

Besides his wife and daughter, Mendonsa also leaves a son, Ron Mendonsa, who lives in Florida.

Molleur said arrangements for her father's funeral have not been made.

"George Mendonsa just won me over," Verria said Sunday night. "He really was bigger than life."

— dnaylor@providencejournal.com

(401) 277-7411

On Twitter: @donita22