The nurse whose epic kiss with a sailor was captured in a Life magazine photograph marking the end of World War II has died at age 91.
Right after her hospital shift ended, Edith Shain and a friend took the subway to Times Square to join the V-J day celebration. It was Aug. 15, 1945.
"I went from Doctors Hospital to Times Square that day because the war was over, and where else does a New Yorker go?" she said in 2008.
"And this guy grabbed me and we kissed, and then I turned one way and he turned the other. There was no way to know who he was, but I didn't mind because he was someone who had fought for me."
The candid photo of the sailor dipping the nurse in white is one of the most reproduced pictures in the history of Life magazine. (LA Times)
But photojournalist Alfred Eisenstaedt never wrote down the names of the legendary couple and the identity of the sailor was never revealed.
Shain said that she didn't contact Life magazine until 1980 because she was embarrassed. (NYU Alumni Magazine)
“I didn’t want people to know that a stranger had kissed me,” she said in a 2007 interview.
After the war, Shain moved to California, where she continued to work as a nurse and as a kindergarten teacher. (Associated Press)
She also used her semi-celebrity status to remind people about the sacrifices made during World War II. Until her death, Shain visited veterans homes, taught children about the war, and participated in Memorial Day parades.
If she could go back in time, Shain said she still would have kissed the sailor but handled the situation differently.
"In retrospect, I should have said, 'Hey, wait a minute!" and asked for his name and number, Shain told The Daily News in 2008. (The Daily News)
Shain died of liver cancer at her home in Los Angeles and is survived by three sons.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.