Woman in Iconic WWII Times Square Kiss Photo Dies at 92

The woman who was kissed by a sailor in Times Square celebrating the end of World World II has died at the age of 92.

Greta Zimmer Friedman's son says his mother died Thursday at a hospital in Richmond, Virginia. He said she died from complications of old age.

Friedman was a 21-year-old dental assistant in a nurse's uniform on August 14, 1945, known as V-J Day, the day that the Japanese surrendered. People spilled into the streets of New York City when they heard the news. That's when George Mendonsa spotted Friedman, spun her around and laid a big kiss on her. The two had actually never met before.

In fact, Mendonsa was on a date with an actual nurse, Rita Petry, who would later become his wife!

The photo taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt is called "V-J Day in Times Square" but known around the world as "The Kiss". Mendonsa says that in some of the photos you can see Petry smiling in the background.

"It wasn't that much of a kiss," Friedman said in an interview with the Veterans History Project in 2005. "It was just somebody celebrating. It wasn't a romantic event."

The photograph has become one of the most famous photographs of the 20th century.

Friedman will be laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery, next to her late husband, Dr. Misha Friedman.