Kissing sailor in famous photo dies 

Glenn McDuffie, identified by Houston Police Department forensic artist Lois Gibson as the sailor who kissed a nurse in the famous photo of the celebration of the end of World War II in New York City, died March 9 in Dallas. He was 86.

The photo was taken Aug. 14, 1945, by Life magazine photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt.

McDuffie told the Associated Press that he was changing trains in New York when he was told that Japan had surrendered.

"I was so happy. I ran out in the street," said McDuffie, then 18 and on his way to visit his girlfriend in Brooklyn. "And then I saw that nurse," he said. "She saw me hollering and with a big smile on my face. ... I just went right to her and kissed her. We never spoke a word. Afterward, I just went on the subway across the street and went to Brooklyn." 

There's a 26-foot-tall sculpture of that moment in downtown Sarasota, Florida. Paula and I, as have many others, had ourselves photographed in the same pose in front of that copy of the World War II-ending moment.

The "Unconditional Surrender" statue on Sarasota's bayfront on U.S. 41 went up in 2005. World War II veteran Jack Curran put up $500,000 to buy the statue, on the condition that it stay out front of city-owned Marina Jack.

Curran, a former signalman who served in the Pacific and European theaters, says he bought the statue for all the other guys out there like him, who were raised in the Great Depression and served their country in World War II and came home to their sweethearts.  

Gibson is in the 2005 Guinness Book of World Records for helping police identify more suspects than any other forensic artist.

After Gibson identified McDuffie as the sailor kissing the nurse, he began a whirlwind lifestyle of going to air shows, gun shows, fundraisers and parties to tell his story. Women would pay $10 to take a picture kissing him on the cheek.

McDuffie is survived by his daughter and two grandchildren. His funeral will be March 21 at the Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery.

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