A statue made in the famous image of the US Navy sailor kissing a nurse in Times Square, New York in celebration at the announcement that Japan had surrendered ending World War Two has been vandalised.
The statue in Florida called “Unconditional Surrender” was daubed with red paint on Monday and defaced with the the phrase #me too. #Me Too referencing the movement against sexual harassment.
Police quickly responded to the scene but have not yet arrested any suspects. The city Sarasota has said the damage to popular status will total around $1,000.
The vandalization of the statue comes just hours after the death of George Mendonsa, who is believed to have been the man in the iconic photograph.
Upon hearing that Japan had unconditionally surrendered to the United States ending the bloodiest conflict in human history the young sailor grabbed a dentist’s assistant who was dressed all in white, kissing her on the mouth in a fit of adulation at the war’s ending.
Mendonsa explained that he thought the woman, Greta Friedman, was one of the military nurses treating wounded soldiers and sailors.
However, the photograph captured by Alfred Eisenstaedt purely by chance, has been ridiculed by angry online feminists who have called it a symbol of rape culture.