A senior Veterans Affairs official said she just wanted to “promote a culture of inclusivity and awareness” within the department when she drafted a two-page memo last week banning any display at all VA health centers of the iconic photo of a Navy sailor kissing a nurse at the end of World War II.
Instead, the memo, leaked on social media, sparked a brief but intense avalanche of criticism and mockery of “woke” policies gone wild before her superiors quickly nixed the idea.
Hours after the memo surfaced Tuesday morning, VA Secretary Denis McDonough rescinded the plan. VA officials said the memo was released in error and never implemented, while even the Biden White House was forced to come out in support of the famous black-and-white photo.
The back-pedaling wasn’t fast enough for some congressional conservatives, who said the whole incident reflected the Biden administration’s misguided obsession with cancel culture and “inclusion” initiatives at the expense of winning wars and taking care of military veterans.
The Department of Veterans Affairs “apparently banned this iconic photo,” Rep. Tim Burchett, Tennessee Republican, wrote on social media. “We need a new President.” When Mr. McDonough announced the photo would not be banned, the lawmaker tweeted, “That was fast.”
The internal memo Thursday from RimaAnn O. Nelson, assistant undersecretary for health for operations at the Veterans Health Administration, directed staffers to take down all prints of Life magazine photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt’s “V-J Day in Times Square,” one of the most famous photographs of the war.
Ms. Nelson argued that the photograph, which allegedly depicts a non-consensual act, was “inconsistent” with the VA’s no-tolerance policy toward sexual harassment and assault.
“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,” she wrote.
The VA confirmed to The Washington Times that the memo was genuine but noted that it “should not” have been sent out and has since been canceled.
Capturing an image
Mr. Eisenstaedt recalled the moment he saw the sailor, later identified as George Mendonsa, making his way through the Times Square throng celebrating the end of the war in the Pacific in August 1945.
“He was grabbing every female he could find and kissing them all — young girls and old ladies alike,” he wrote in his autobiography, “The Eyes of Eisenstaedt.” “Then I noticed the nurse, standing in that enormous crowd. I focused on her and just as I’d hoped, the sailor bent down to kiss her. Now, if this girl hadn’t been a nurse, if she’d been dressed in dark clothes, I wouldn’t have had a picture.”
The “nurse” in the photograph was later identified as dental assistant Greta Zimmer Friedman.
Ms. Nelson acknowledged that the VA displays of the photograph, now widely known simply as “The Kiss,” were meant to celebrate the end of the war and the triumphant return of American troops. But she said times have changed and what may have been acceptable for “The Greatest Generation” was no longer the case in 2024.
“Perspectives on historical events and their representations evolve,” Ms. Nelson wrote. “Employees have expressed discomfort with the display of this photograph, suggesting that its presence could be construed as a tacit endorsement of the inappropriate behavior it depicts.”
The memo directed VA employees to “promptly” remove any depictions of the famous photo and replace them with “more appropriate” images. Ms. Nelson’s recommendation collapsed on Tuesday when an X account by the user “End Wokeness” posted a copy of her two-page memo, prompting the quick reversal by Mr. McDonough.
“Let me be clear: This image is not banned from VA facilities — and we will keep it in VA facilities,” Mr. McDonough wrote on his X account in a post that included a copy of the photograph.
The White House joined in the damage-limitation operation.
“I can definitely say that the memo was not sanctioned. It’s not something we were even aware of until you all started reporting on it,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters. “We are not banning that photo. I’m just going to be super-clear about that.”
She said Mr. McDonough made the decision on his own to repudiate the memo.
The Republican-led House Committee on Veterans Affairs said the about-face was the right call but the whole episode was a sign of a larger problem.
“We still have serious questions about who at VA thought potentially banning this photo would be a good idea in the first place,” the committee said on X.
Social media users also roasted the department and the administration. “I’m making copies of this photo and I will leave them all over my VA hospital when I have my next appointment,” X poster @OldArmyNurse4 wrote.
David Galluch, a Navy veteran and former political candidate from Pennsylvania, said the VA needs to concentrate on providing adequate care for homeless veterans and on its hospitals that are in desperate need of repair.
“What is Joe Biden’s Department of Veterans Affairs focused on? Banning the most famous photo of World War II from its facilities to ‘foster a more trauma-informed environment,’” Mr. Galluch wrote on X.
• David R. Sands and Tom Howell Jr. contributed to this report.
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.
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