12/10/2019
This is San Dieg's #StatueOfLiberty
Kissing Statue
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Seaport Village
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“Probably the Most Iconic Image of the 20th Century”!
There were two photos at two different angles taken at the same time. The Statue in San Diego is based on the Un-Copyrited photo.
The unknown sailor was standing next to his fiance’ when the end of the war was announced in Times Square. Instead of kissing his fiance, he turns to a stranger, a military nurse, and rather strongly locks his left arm, slightly dips the nurse, gives her a long, joyful kiss as she drops her arms. The official name of this San Diego version is “Sweet Surrender”. I call it - The Kissing Statue! . . . Kissing War, Good-Bye!
There are thousands, each day, that do the “dip and kiss”. What is really significant to me, as the administer of this page, are the hundreds of tourists from Japan that laugh and do the “dip and kiss”. Their ancestors lived in the country that we fought in World War II. Now , decades later, they share in our joy of being a free people. Because of the sacrifices of “The Greatest Generation” we can be friends!
Here’s one of the Official Accounts of the statue:
The Kissing Statue is based on a spontaneous photo taken in Times Square on August 14, 1945 the moment after Victory was announced over Japan and the End of World War II.
"Kissing the War Goodbye" by Victor Jorgensen The photo was taken by Victor Jorgensen, who was a Navy Photo Journalist. On August 15, his photo was published in the New York Times. Jorgensen titled his photograph: Kissing the War Goodbye! Another photographer, Alfred Eisenstaedt, also photographed this impromptu moment of the sailor and nurse kissing. His was the more famous, copyrighted version, he named "Kiss in Times Square" that appeared in Life Magazine. Of interest...even though it was declared one of the most iconic images of the 20th century, it was not the cover photo of the magazine. The statue itself is titled - "Unconditional Surrender" and is a series of sculptures by Seward Johnson. His statue here, in San Diego, is located at Tuna Harbor Park next to the USS Midway Museum. KissingStatueandUSSMidway The San Diego statue is the only one on the West Coast. Other versions are located in Times Square, New York, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Normandy, France and Sarasota, Florida. There have been two versions of the statue. The first version was made of foam and urethane. It was loaned to the city in 2007 but was removed in 2011 because "it was looking awfully worn" . In 2013 over 1 million dollars was raised in 3 months by the USS Midway Museum and a bronze version was permanently installed. Because of it's history and interest of people from all over the world it has become one of the most photographed landmarks in San Diego. One welcomed observation from this website. . . a high percentage of the tourist visiting the statue are from Japan, our former World War II adversary and China - a communist country. Our hope is, like the good people from Japan and China, those countries and individuals who hate and want to destroy America will one day, come join us, to "KISS WAR GOOD-BYE!
Administrator of This Page: Jim Dillehay, call or text: 619 616-8908 or email: [email protected] Jim’s ideas and websites: illegalAl.com (a possible sit-com that Jim is discussing with Warner Bros., WhatIfOprah.com, FreedomOlympics.com, JamInTheMix.com,
