Kissing statue dedication in San Diego

On Feb. 16th, we went to the dedication of the "Kissing Statue" in San Diego also known as "Unconditonal Surrender".  San Diego actually had this statue on loan from another state and it was taken down last year.  San Diegans missed the statue and raised $1 millions dollars to have one permanently commissioned for San Diego.  A beautiful 25 foot statue was made and it was put in a nice park right next to the USS Midway ship which is a musuem.  For those not familiar with this statue, this is actually a famous photograph taken by a Time Life photographer.  World War II had ended and there was a huge celebration in Times Square in New York.  A lot of sailors were in the celebration.  One sailor was so excited that he grabbed a stranger that happened to be a nurse and kissed her.  This kiss was captured by a Time Life photographer to show the excitement in the air that special day.  It was a beautiful day for the dedication.  There were World War II veterans present there as well as a Pearl Harbor survivor.  Under the statue, approximately 11 couples from the WWII era renewed their wedding vows.  The couples were married from between 65-71 years which was amazing in itself.  There was also a plane flying overhead for the USS Midway Museum that said, "Kiss a Veteran" They even had singers singing sounds from that era.   I also shot some pictures of the USS Midway Ship which is right next to the park.  The statue is fitting to San Diego because of it's military history.  There was a radio station 95.7 Kiss FM there and they took our picture and put it on their website.  Daphne won a t-shirt from the radio station.  After the dedication, we walked along the wharf and looked at some other boats including a Holland America Cruise ship, a huge yacht, and the Star of India from the movie "Master and Commander".