If you are in your 80s you don't need to be reminded. If you are not familiar with it, Google 'The Kissing Sailor' and catch up on a little piece of important history.
Both sailor and nurse are still alive. And so is the sailors wife, who at the time was his 'date' standing nearby as a shocked witness. For decades no one knew who any of them were. Until now.
Recently, the 'kissers' were revealed to be 89-year-olds George Mendonsa and Greta Zimmer Friedman. Since that day the pair have had a few small reunions, but have not repeated the embrace - you see George married the date, not the nurse.
Now married for 66 years Rita Mendonsa says she didn't get mad even though it was their first date. But she adds 'He's never kissed me like that.'
Yikes. Sounds like George and Rita have a little history to patch up.
While George says he was too drunk to remember the kiss, Greta recalls being grabbed from out of nowhere. ‘That man was very strong. I wasn’t kissing him. He was kissing me,’ she recalls.
Well, its been 67 years and no doubt the captured kiss will outlive the kissers. Because one of the world's great film photographers was there with camera in hand - so we who were not born yet can still experience the grand gesture.
