Other people who claimed to be in iconic V-J Day photo

More than a dozen people claimed to be either the the sailor or the nurse shown passionately embracing in Alfred Eisenstaedt's photograph taken in Times Square on Valentine's Day.

It wasn't until more than seven decades after the photo was taken that facial recognition technology confirmed that the kissing pair were George Mendonsa and Greta Zimmer Friedman.

Below are a few of the other possible subjects that emerged over years of speculation: 

The photographer's choice

Edith Shain, who died in 2010 at the age of 91, was given the nod of approval from Eisenstaedt decades after the fact, as well as a vote of confidence from Life magazine.

Shain was working in a hospital on August 14, and remembers being grabbed by an excitable young Navy man - but didn't get his name.

Recounting the event, she said: 'Someone grabbed me and kissed me, and I let him because he fought for his country. I closed my eyes when I kissed him. I never saw him.'

She wrote to Life magazine in the 1970s making her claim - leading to a visti from Eisenstaedt, who reportedly took one look at her legs and declared her the woman he had photographed.

Years later, a statement from Life.com, the magazine's successor, also backed her. It said: 'Shain's claim is the one that, over the years, has held up best and has been most widely accepted (and most often celebrated)'.

The Shain theory never produced a firm identity for the Navy man. 

Edith Shain, who died in 2010 aged 91, was given the nod of approval from Eisenstaedt

The Casanova

Another solid claim came from Carl Muscarello, a Floridian who was just 18 at the time of the photo.

He remembers tearing through Times Square kissing everyone in sight from sheer excitement.

In a 2013 interview, Muscarello said: 'I was very, very happy. I would kiss all of the girls who would stand still - I even kissed a couple of guys. I was just in a kissing mood, it was great.'

The tale matches an account from Eisenstaedt, who recalled the moment by saying: 'I saw a sailor running along the street grabbing any and every girl in sight. Whether she was a grandmother, stout, thin, old, didn't make a difference.'

A claim by Glenn McDuffie, who died in Dallas aged 86, had scientific backing

The forensic pick

Glenn McDuffie, who died in Dallas aged 86, was another claimant, with an apparent backing from science.

According to a 'forensic artist' from the Houston, Texas, police department, McDuffie was incontrovertibly the man in the photograph.

His New York Times obituary tells how Lois Gibson took 100 photographs of McDuffie and found that his ears, muscles and other facial features were a perfect match.

In his account of the day, McDuffie describes the kiss as a spur-of-the-moment lunge while he was heading to Brooklyn to meet his girlfriend.

He said: 'I was so happy. I ran out in the street. 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.' 

While neither Shain, McDuffie nor Muscarello appear to have given a firm time for the moment, their accounts have been taken to imply it was an early afternoon moment of passion - which in the eyes of the scientists disqualifies them.

Speaking to CBS News, Olsen said: 'Astronomy alone can't positively identify the participants, but we can tell you the precise moment of the photograph... We can rule people out based on the position of the sun.'

'The shadows were the key to unlocking some of the secrets of the iconic VJ Day images - we know when the famous kiss happened, and that gives us some idea of who might or might not have been in the picture.'

Reporting by Kieran Corcoran for DailyMail.com