Located along the Sarasota Bayfront, parking lot, alongside US41/The Tamiami Trail stands the Unconditional Surrender Sculpture. An iconic scene from newspaper headlines following the end of World War II. The 25 feet tall Sailor kissing his beloved. Be sure to snap a shot of you and your loved one recreating the scene while the original couple does the same behind you.
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"This twenty five foot tall painted aluminum statue by artist Seward Johnson, 2005 has an interesting and controversial history. If the memorial of this young sailor and nurse looks familiar to you then you have probably seen the famous picture taken in Aug 14, 1945 at Times Square, NYC. when WWII ended. Seward Johnson states "I did not use the Eisenstaedt photo to do this piece,” Time Life which owns the copyright says otherwise but was willing to sell for a fee, the image use. There are actually two famous images of this scene! One taken by Eisenstaedt and another taken by Victor Jorgensen both capture the same moment in history at different angles. Jorgensen's image is now in the National Archives. This is the one Johnson says he was inspired by." Text Source: (
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The profound joy he portrayed in this sculpture was prompted by the spontaneous surrender of the Japanese, thus ending World War II on August 14, 1945. Among the celebrants in Times Square in New York City were a United States sailor and a nurse embracing admits the multitude of joint makers.
The merriment expressed the pride and relief of military and the home front to have been part of this great victory despite the eleven years of unemployment and the hardships of the Great Depression; four years of horrific war; losing loved ones; the rationing of food and gasoline and the war production duties and/or to buy the home front. This group is
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This celebrated moment in the history of our nation prompted preeminent American sculptor J. Stewart Johnson, to create this sculpture, which he named “Unconditional Surrender.” After several years of intense effort, a proud veteran of World War II, Jack Curran, bought the sculpture, with the outstanding support given by various Sarasota County veterans organizations, he was able to donate the sculpture to the city of Saratoga.
The presence of this sculpture prompts viewers to never forget the “Greatest Generation” or the day when they demonstrated their “Unity” - August 14, 1945.