An official with the Department of Veterans Affairs tried to remove the iconic World War II picture of a U.S. Navy sailor kissing a young woman in Times Square from all VA facilities but had to back off when there was a public backlash.
The move was apparently authorized by Assistant Under Secretary for Health for Operations RimaAnn O. Nelson, who advocated for the photo’s removal in a memorandum dated February 29, 2024.
The picture — which the memorandum acknowledges is “iconic” and “a symbol of victory” — was captured on August 14, 1945, and depicts a sailor spontaneously kissing a woman he did not know when Japan’s surrender was announced, ending World War II.
In the memo, Nelson explained that the picture had become problematic because of evolving “perspectives on historical events and their interpretations.”
“Recent discussions have highlighted concerns about the non-consensual nature of the kiss, prompting debates on consent and the appropriateness of celebrating such images in today’s environment, especially within institutions, such as [Veterans Health Administration] facilities, which are committed to upholding standards of creating a safe and respectful environment,” the memo continued.
The memo also claimed that employees at the VA had “expressed discomfort” with the photograph, with its display viewed as a “tacit endorsement of the inappropriate behavior it depicts.”
Based on this reasoning, the memo suggests, all instances of the photo’s display at VA facilities should be removed to “foster a more trauma-informed environment” that “promotes the psychological safety of our employees and the Veterans we serve.”
However, when the memorandum was leaked on social media, the secretary of Veterans Affairs, Denis McDonough, took to X to deny that the picture was to be taken down.
“Let me be clear: This image is not banned from VA facilities – and we will keep it in VA facilities,” McDonough wrote in his post, which also displayed the picture, without referencing or elaborating on Nelson’s memorandum.
Let me be clear: This image is not banned from VA facilities – and we will keep it in VA facilities. pic.twitter.com/dYSikLxHAJ
— Secretary Denis McDonough (@SecVetAffairs) March 5, 2024
This is not the first time Nelson, who is a long-time bureaucrat at the VA, has made headlines. In 2010, she was the head of the VA hospital in St. Louis when consistently poor sanitation and sterilization techniques exposed potentially 1,800 patients to infections, including HIV and hepatitis. As a result, Nelson was reassigned to the U.S. Embassy in the Philippines, where she was afforded the same $160,000-a-year salary she had at her St. Louis hospital.
After her exotic assignment at the Manila VA hospital, Nelson was brought back state-side to head the already scandal-ridden Phoenix VA hospital. But her history at the St. Louis VA caught the attention of then-Democrat Congresswoman and later Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) as well as Republican former representative Matt Salmon, who protested the VA appointment to the then Obama administration.
The identity of the nurse on the receiving end of the spontaneous smooch was a mystery for years, but was later identified as Greta Friedman. Friedman passed away in 2016 at age 92, but her granddaughter Caroline Branin told the Daily Mail that her grandmother “was always very proud of the image, and she thought it was two young people celebrating in the street.”
However, others point to Friedman’s acknowledgment, “It wasn’t my choice to be kissed,” as enough reason to find the picture problematic.
Poster @dantrimont on X, noting Friedman’s account of the event, wrote, “[T]his photo is representing [sexual assault], hence why VA secretary RimaAnn Nelson wanted it removed.”
The soldier in the photo, George Mendonsa, was interviewed eight years ago by the American Veterans Center and told the story behind how the spontaneous celebratory kiss transpired.
Seeing that Friedman wore a nurse’s uniform, he was reminded of nurses on a hospital ship whom he witnessed treating injured men during a traumatic event at sea, he said. Overwhelmed by emotion at the victory and the memory of those nurses’ service, he kissed her.
