A kiss is still a kiss, 70 years on

A couple re-enacting the iconic kiss. Photo / AP

Hundreds of couples have poured into New York's Times Square to re-enact the famous photograph of a kiss between a sailor and a woman celebrating the end of World War II.

Photojournalist Alfred Eisenstaedt took the photo as news broke that Japan had surrendered on August 14, 1945.

The photo, known as V-J Day in Times Square, shows an American sailor kissing a woman in white as her right foot rises off the ground. A sculpture of the kiss was also installed in Times Square for the occasion.

Some couples turned out in replica outfits, the men in sailor suits and the women in white. They clasped each other, locking lips in the same pose.

World War II veterans Ray and Ellie Williams, who got married on August 15, 1945, were guests of honour and flew in from Georgia.

Ray Williams remembered the jubilation that greeted the end of the war. "It was a Friday evening. Jubilation broke out all over the country," he said. "We were double excited, celebrating our marriage and the end of the war."

In the evening of August 14, 1945, more than two million people are estimated to have gathered in Times Square to hear the news.

Eisenstaedt was in so much haste to cover the breaking news he did not stop to ask the couple's name. Their faces are not clearly visible in the photo and their identity remains a mystery. Eleven men and three women have since come forward to claim they are in the photograph.

- AAP