Who was identified as the woman in Alfred Eisenstaedt's V-J Day Times Square photograph?

Greta Zimmer Friedman was identified as the woman in Alfred Eisenstaedt's V-J Day Times Square photograph.

Friedman was a dental assistant who was wearing a white work uniform when the sailor grabbed and kissed her during the celebration on August 14, 1945. For decades, several women claimed to be the person in the photograph, partly because the image did not clearly show the woman's face.

Researchers Lawrence Verria and George Galdorisi concluded that Friedman was the woman after comparing photographs, background figures, physical features, and testimony. Friedman herself later described the moment as sudden rather than as a romantic meeting between two people who knew each other.

The sailor was identified as George Mendonsa, although other men also claimed the role. The image is often casually described as showing a nurse, but Friedman was a dental assistant. That distinction is one of the photograph's most common factual corrections.