The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has reversed course and is no longer banning a famous World War II-era photo of a sailor kissing a woman from VA facilities. The photo was taken in Times Square on V-J Day, the date in the summer of 1945 when victory was declared over Japan, and has become controversial in recent years after the woman in the photo made clear that the kiss wasn’t consensual.
“Let me be clear: This image is not banned from VA facilities – and we will keep it in VA facilities,” Secretary Denis McDonough tweeted Tuesday morning with a photo of the kiss.
McDonough’s tweet was in response to viral outrage on X to an internal VA memo dated Feb. 29 that started circulating. The memo, written by RimaAnn Nelson, assistant under secretary for Health for Operations at the VA, requested the removal of the photo from all VA buildings.
This memorandum requests the removal of the “V-J Day in Times Square” photograph from all Veterans Health Administration facilities in alignment with the Department of Veterans Affairs’ commitment to maintaining a safe, respectful, and trauma-informed environment. This action is promoted by the recognition that the photograph, which depicts a non-consensual act, is inconsistent with the VA’s no-tolerance policy towards sexual harassment and assault, as outlined in VA Handbook 5979 and VHA Directive 5019.02(1).
The memo went on to explain that our understanding of historical events and the images that emerge from them can evolve over time.
The placement of this photograph in Veterans Affairs (VA) facilities was initially intended to celebrate and commemorate the end of World War II and the triumphant return of American soldiers. However, perspectives on historical events and their representations evolve. Recent discussions have highlighted concerns about the non-consensual nature of the kiss, prompting debates on consent and the appropriateness of celebrating such images in today’s environment, especially within institutions, such as VHA facilities, which are committed to upholding standards of creating a safe and respectful environment.
But many X users responded to McDonough’s tweet asking if the memo was real, something he didn’t touch on. Reached for comment over email on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the VA acknowledged the memo was real but insisted it shouldn’t have been issued in the first place.
“A memo was sent out that should not have been, and it has been rescinded,” Gary J. Kunich, a public affairs specialist in the Office of Media Relations, said Tuesday.
The sailor in the photo, George Mendonsa, was captured by multiple photographers kissing Greta Friedman, and one version of the image was even published on the cover of Life magazine. It was seen as a celebration of the victory over the empire of Japan in 1945, but the photo started to get a reappraisal after a 2005 interview with Friedman resurfaced.
“Suddenly, I was grabbed by a sailor. It wasn’t that much of a kiss,” Friedman said in a 2005 interview with the Veterans History Project that was quoted by Mother Jones in 2012.
“I felt that he was very strong. He was just holding me tight. I’m not sure about the kiss…it was just somebody celebrating. It wasn’t a romantic event,” Friedman continued.
Obviously, the social media mob that started all of this outrage over the photo got what they wanted in a reversal of policy at the VA, but that’s not going to be enough for some shit-stirring X users who now want the person who issued the memo, RimaAnn Nelson, to lose her job.
“If the memo is fake, why not just say that? If the memo is real, will you fire RimaAnn O. Nelson for signing onto it?” an account called End Wokeness tweeted on Tuesday.
Right-wing cancel culture never rests, it would seem, even when the mob gets what it wants.
