Book puts end to Kissing Sailor mystery

On August 14, 1945, World War II ended. And one of the most famous photos ever, was taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt on that day.  

The picture for "Life" magazine, and the mystery about who was really in that photo has been around almost as long.

A  new book called "The Kissing Sailor” by Lawrence Verria and George Galdorisi, hopes to put an end to a sixty year old question. 

"Well I like a lot of people I love the photo and the more I learned of the photo the more curious I became. The more I started to look into actually who was in the photo just out of curiosity the more I learned about the turmoil behind the picture," said Lawrence Verria.

That turmoil has had many people coming forward over the years to claim they were the famous couple. 

George Mendonsa is one of those that came forward.

"So we're watching the Rockettes and they just dropped the atomic bomb a few days before over there in Japan. So, they stopped the show in Radio City, on comes all the lights and the whole works and they said the Japanese have surrendered and the war is over."

George Mendosa of Middletown is the famous kisser.  

"So, my date and I, we go down into Times Square and of course the place was wild. I went into Child's Bar and I popped a few drinks in Child's Bar," explained Mendosa. "We came walking down into Times Square and of course it is loaded with people. I saw the nurse approach me. When I saw the nurse and the drinks, the commotion of the war over, so I grabbed the nurse."

According to the authors, the photo called “The Kiss” may not be what you think. 

"What looks like a kiss of romance or perhaps even lust isn't.  It's actually a kiss of joy that an awful war has ended."

In the famous photo George's girlfriend who has been his wife now for over sixty years can be seen looking over his shoulder.

George didn't speak to his kissing partner till years after.

"I never gave her a thought even for years afterwards, it completely slipped out of my mind."

The authors of the book used new technology to identify the sailor.

"The more you get into the story every once and a while you, I found myself sitting back saying can this really be true? Can it be this complicated?"

"There is nothing inconsistent between George Medonsa and the kissing sailor.  While all of the other candidates it is quite easy to actually determine that it can't possibly be them."

George saw the photo for the first time in the early eighties.

"The minute I looked at it it was just like looking in a mirror. I said damn, it is me."

Even though George is 89 he is still a ladies man

"They don't ask me to kiss them but, a sometimes if you have a few drinks in ya and there is people around, ya know I can tell that they wanna kiss the sailor."

As far as the nurse in the photo, her name is Greta Zimmer and she is in her late eighties and lives in Maryland.  The book 'The Kissing Sailor' is available at book stores.