As most of you know, I'm a photo nut. Next to Ansel Adams, the most iconic shooter of that era was Alfred Eisenstaedt. The photo below is considered his most famous work. Along with the shot of soldiers scaling Mt Suribachi it's also considered the most important photo of WWII.
The brave men and women who fought this war have never once thought anything other than to admire this work of art that captures the joy of prevailing against the forces of evil.
The idea that woke armchair quarterbacks of today can't understand that represents everything wrong with the progressive movement.
Woke VA officials ban iconic WWII kiss photo over ‘values’ — and are forced to reverse it when boss finds out via tweet
By Jesse O’Neill and Melissa Koenig, NY Post
Published March 5, 2024
Woke officials at the Department of Veterans Affairs banned the iconic photo of a World War II Times Square kiss from agency buildings last week — claiming it no longer fit the “values” of the VA.
But the move apparently blind-sided their furious boss, VA Secretary Denis McDonough, who very publicly reversed the edict on X on Tuesday morning — after seemingly learning of it through a tweet.
The VA chief had not been made aware of the memo before it was issued and never approved it, sources familiar with the matter added to The Associated Press.
V-J Day’s iconic photo depicts a sailor passionately kissing a woman in a nurse’s outfit in Times Square.
Time & Life Pictures/Getty Image
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The photo — which captures an ecstatic US sailor kissing a nurse passing by to celebrate the end of war with Japan in 1945 — was deemed “inappropriate behavior” by VA higher-ups because it “depicts a non-consensual act.”
Displaying the snapshot in VA hospitals “could be construed as a tacit endorsement of the inappropriate behavior it depicts,” wrote RimaAnn Nelson, the agency’s assistant undersecretary for Health for Operations, in a Feb. 29 memo to staffers around the country.
“Employees have expressed discomfort with the display of this photograph” — and “to foster a more trauma-informed environment,’’ it should be removed, the missive said.
Doing so “reflects our dedication to creating a respectful and safe workplace, and is in keeping with our broader efforts to promote a culture of inclusivity and awareness,” Nelson wrote.
The true story behind the iconic V-J Day sailor and 'nurse' smooch.
As first dates go, Rita Petry thought this one was pretty great: a beautiful summer afternoon in the city, a matinee at Radio City Music Hall, drinks after, followed by a passionate, soon-to-be-iconic kiss.
Well, maybe not the kiss: Her handsome young suitor, it turns out, planted that on another woman.
Such is the incredible story behind one of the most romantic and enduring photos of the 20th century — and one of our most compelling mysteries.
Since Aug. 14, 1945, the identities of the smooching sailor and the nurse in Alfred Eisenstaedt’s Times Square V-J Day photograph have never been determined — until the publication, last week, of the book “The Kissing Sailor: The Mystery Behind the Photo that Ended World War II.”
There’s another person in the frame, one nobody even knew to look for, who makes the image that much more poignant: Rita Petry, the future wife of that sailor, George Mendonsa.
The administration honcho suggested staffers instead find “alternative photographs that capture the spirit of victory and peace without compromising the VAs commitment to a safe and respectful environment.
“Your cooperation in this matter is vital,’’ the memo added. “Please ensure that these photographs are promptly removed.”
But the ban is believed to have infuriated Nelson’s boss when he learned of it — apparently five days later through social media.
“Let me be clear: This image is not banned from VA facilities — and we will keep it in VA facilities,” McDonough wrote on X on Tuesday — an hour and a half after a copy of Nelson’s memo surfaced on an account titled End Wokeness.
The VA memo requesting the "V-J Day in Times Square" be removed.
RimaAnn Nelson, the agency’s assistant undersecretary for Health for Operations, wrote the memo.
The VA chief had not been made aware of the memo before it was issued and never approved it, sources familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.
The celebrated snap was taken by famed “Life’’ magazine photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt on Aug. 14, 1945, the day the Japanese announced they were surrendering.
It garnered controversy in recent years, particularly with the #MeToo movement, because the woman in the photograph, a dental assistant named Greta Zimmer Friedman, had never met the sailor, George Mendonsa, before she suddenly found herself lip-locked with him at the Crossroads of the World.
But critics of the VA photo ban Tuesday included Mendonsa’s daughter, who denied to The Post that her father was guilty of anything other than unbridled enthusiasm that day.
“They were just coming off those trains, and everybody was partying,” said Sharon Molleur, 67, whose dad died in 2019, three years after Friedman and nearly 25 years after Eisenstaedt.
“All the sailors were kissing [women], everybody was loaded, jumping up in the air. They were having a wonderful time.
“It was totally consensual,” she argued of the kiss between her father and Friedman, who she said “became very good friends” after.
In 2005, Friedman said, “The guy just came over and kissed or grabbed.
“It was just somebody really celebrating. But it wasn’t a romantic event.”
RimaAnn O. Nelson said displaying the picture could be construed as an “endorsement of the inappropriate behavior it depicts.”
US Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) tweeted Tuesday, “V-J Day in Times Square” is one of the most iconic photos in history & celebrates total victory in WW2.
“The fact that VA would even consider removing it demonstrates the overly-politicized rot within our bureaucracy,’’ he said.
“We should be PROUD to be Americans.”
Congressman Vern Buchanan, also a GOPer from the Sunshine State, said it was “good to hear” that the ban had been reversed, “but disturbing that someone at the VA issued this in the first place.”
Post emails sent to Nelson at the VA seeking comment Tuesday bounced back, and her work phone was not set up to take messages.
In 2016, the VA took heat for having her oversee its hospital in Phoenix, Ariz., a facility that local outlet the Daily Caller described at the time as “the most troubled Veteran Affairs hospital in the nation.’’
The Caller said she had just left in disgrace from her previous hospital — which it ranked last in patient satisfaction out of the 126-hospital VA network.
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