Touching Vintage Photos of Soldiers Kissing Their Loved Ones

We’re all familiar with photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt’s V-J Day in Times Square in which a sailor returning from a victory in Japan is dipping and passionately kissing a young woman in Times Square. While it’s a fantastic and memorable photo, indicative of the patriotic passion, pride, and relief felt by Americans welcoming their victorious troops, it’s not the only one of its kind. There are have been many photographic captures of soldiers smooching women upon arrival and departure, whether they be sweethearts or strangers.

London, 1935 - Soldiers departing for Egypt from Feltham Station lean out of their windows to kiss their loved ones goodbye. (© Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS)

London, 1940 - A soldier kisses his sweetheart over the gates of a London railway station as he heads off to join the British Expeditionary Forces in France.

London, 1940 - A woman leans over the railing to kiss a British soldier returning from World War II.

New York, 1945 - Actress Marlene Dietrich is hoisted up to kiss a GI as he arrives home from World War II.

Seattle, 1948 - A sailor kisses a woman as he boards a bus at the Seattle Bus Terminal.

California, 1950 - A soldier leans out of a train to kiss a woman goodbye

(via My Modern Met)