Houston Man Is The Kissing Sailor

Alfred Eisenstaedt’s emblematic photo of a sailor kissing a nurse in Times Square in 1945 was made famous by Life magazine. The kiss is widely recognized as an event marking the end of World War II.  Since the publication of the photo, there has been some dispute about the identity of the two kissers. In 1980 when editors of Life sought the two subjects of the famous photograph, one woman and eleven men came forward to claim the honor. After a meticulous investigation, eighty year old Glenn McDuffie of Houston has been identified by police forensics artist Lois Gibson, as the jaunty sailor immortalized in the photo. Precise measurements of his forehead, wrists, knuckles, arms and ears matched those of the sailor in a proportional blow up of the original picture.  Also, among the eleven contenders, McDuffie was the only one who was able to name the two other sailors seen in the photo - "Bob Little, from Buffalo, New York," and "Jack Holmes, from Pittsburgh."

                         

Glenn McDuffie was celebrating something on Friday other than his 80th birthday — what he says is the long-sought "proof" that he was the sailor kissing the nurse in Times Square in the famous Life magazine photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt.

"I am positive it's Glenn," said Houston Police Department forensic artist Lois Gibson, who McDuffie had approached for help. "I have specific photographic evidence that proves it positively, to me."

After taking precise measurements of McDuffie's wrists, knuckles, arms, forehead and ears, Gibson compared them to enlargements of the famous photo.

To replicate the image, Gibson had McDuffie pose embracing a pillow, as a substitute for the nurse.

"I don't say this lightly. What I do is usually a matter of life or death, so I don't mess around when I identify someone," said Gibson, whom the 2005 book of Guinness World Records said has helped police identify more criminal suspects than any other person.

Another account of the same story here. 

For and update on the story see here.

Comments

[Namit Arora]

Iconic it certainly is but it seems to me that the nurse is not at all enjoying the sailor's clutch and kiss.

[Ruchira Paul]

We'll never know will we, unless she tells us? McDuffie does admit that they didn't "talk," during or after the kiss. I also wondered when reading the article if she was ever identified. Only one woman claimed to be the nurse - perhaps that was she.

[Namit Arora]

You're right. We will never know for sure, unless she tells us. But I wonder what this says about the culture that elevates this to a cherished/classic photo. The times were certainly different then. I wonder what modern day feminists make of this photo.

[Amit]

Maybe the photograph was taken just before she put her left arm around him. :)

[Namit Arora]

Quite by coincidence, I ran into this photo midway down this page of other iconic photos (some are quite chilling). Apparently, our man "was kissing every girl he encountered and for that kiss, this particular nurse slapped him." :-)

[Ruchira Paul]

Hey, that's funny! No wonder McDuffie just said that they didn't "TALK" and left it at that. He must have been playing the "drunken sailor" role to the hilt that day.

Perhaps I will publish it as an update (at both sites) - I have very few ideas for posting right now. It will also give me the opportunity to show off an ancient sketch of one of the subjects.

[Tilly]

If any knows where i can get this ornamenant of this figre as my dads has been recently broken please contact me on [email protected]

[Mike Marc]

It wasn't McDuffy. The man was George Mendozia. He lives in Rhode Island. The lady in the back row on the right end in white would be his future wife. It's a shame someone would claim the photo when it wasn't them. The tatoo on George's right hand also shows proof. He was station on the USS The Sullivans (They were in at the port of NY) when this picture was taken. He is shown on the USS Sullivan's reunion video with a nother shipmate who wittnessed it.