WHAT A KISS!

I am about 2 days late with this post. (My faithful readers know that I am "a day late and a dollar short" kind of blogger.) According to a news article, "Thousands of people of all ages and walks of life gathered in Times Square for a group "kiss-in" on Saturday, August 14, 2010, in the first national day of remembrance for the World War II generation.

This year's event comes on the 65th anniversary of the end of the war in 1945.

The celebration was immortalized in Alfred Eisenstaedt's photograph of an unidentified sailor kissing nurse Edith Shain in Times Square. A group "kiss-in" recreating the moment took place beside a 25-foot statue of the couple created by Seward Johnson. (I took photo of the above scuplture last year when more than 20 of Mr. Johnson's work were on display prior to his masterpiece, The Awakening, was being installed in Chesterfield.) Free sailor caps and roses were given out to the first 250 couples to arrive for the kiss in.

At estimated 6,000 buglers played "Taps" coast to coast and numerous events were held at World War II memorials and City Halls all across the country. In future years, the commemoration will be held on the second Sunday of August.

The group Keep the Spirit of '45 Alive organized the kiss-in and hundreds of other celebrations of the World War II generation Saturday.

I plan to go to Times Square to see the sculpture the next time I am in New York.