George Anthony Mendonsa (February 19, 1923 – February 17, 2019)

(Fox News) – The 18-year-old sailor shown kissing a woman in New York’s
Time Square in an iconic photo that captured the ecstatic celebrations at
the end of World War II died Sunday in Rhode Island. 

According to family members, George Mendonsa was two days short of his
96th birthday when he died at an assisted living facility in Middletown.

Mendonsa’s daughter, Sharon Molleur, told the Providence Journal her father
had fallen and had a seizure before he was pronounced dead. He lived at the
facility with his wife of 70 years.

Mendonsa was shown kissing a woman he never met, Greta Zimmer Friedman,
a dental assistant in a nurse’s uniform, on Aug. 14, 1945. Known as V-J Day,
it was the day Japan surrendered to the United States. People spilled into the
New York City streets to celebrate the news.

ROSS SIMPSON

On this day in 1898, the USS Maine sank when it exploded in Havana Harbor for unknown reasons. More than 260 crew members were
killed. The episode escalated tensions between the United States
and Spain and contributed to the outbreak of the Spanish-American
War two months later.

TIM MAGUIRE

On this day in 1964, The Beatles made the first of three record-
breaking appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show." 73 million
people watched the show. It was their American TV debut.

During World War II on this day in 1943, the battle of Guadalcanal
ended with an American victory over Japanese forces.

THE SPRINGFIELD UNION, Massachusetts, February 9, 1943. 

Some 60,000 Allies forces fought on the island between August 1942
and February 1943.

These Japanese prisoners were among those captured by American
forces on Guadalcanal Island. 

MIKE  GRACIA

    

On this day in 1958, Explorer 1 became the United States’ first
satellite in space. The launch of the satellite — twice the size
of a basketball — was an important moment for the country,
as the Space Race with the Soviet Union was just beginning.

The three men responsible for the success of Explorer 1, at left is Dr. William H. Pickering, former director of JPL, which built and operated
the satellite. Dr. James A. van Allen, center, of the State University of Iowa, designed and built the instrument on Explorer that discovered
the radiation belts which circle the Earth. At right is Dr. Wernher von Braun, leader of the Army’s Redstone Arsenal team which built the
first stage Redstone rocket that launched Explorer 1.

On this day in 1945, Private Eddie Donald Slovik became the only
U.S. soldier since the American Civil War to be executed for
desertion.

MIKE GRACIA

On this day in 1998, President Clinton denied having an affair with
a former White House intern, saying "I did not have sexual relations
with that woman, Miss Lewinsky."

President Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky in the Oval Office.