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'Unconditional Surrender' Statue Damaged By '#MeToo' Graffiti

Sarasota Police Department
Sarasota's "Unconditional Surrender" statue was damaged Monday by someone who painted "#MeToo" on it with red paint.

The Sarasota Police Department is investigating an act of vandalism to the city's "Unconditional Surrender" statue.

The figure is based on an iconic Alfred Eisenstaedt photograph taken in New York's Times Square at the end of World War II, featuring a nurse being swept off her feet and kissed by a Navy sailor.

Tuesday morning, officers found "#MeToo" spray painted in red along the length of the nurse's left leg.

Credit Sarasota Police Department
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Sarasota Police Department
The "Unconditional Surrender" statue is based on an iconic Alfred Eisenstaedt photograph taken in New York's Times Square at the end of World War II.

Recent reactions to the photo and statue have been mixed since it was revealed Navy sailor George Mendonsa did not know Greta Zimmer Friedman when he grabbed her and kissed her in Times Square on August 14th, 1945.

Mendonsa passed away on Sunday.

Police believe the damage was done sometime after noon on Monday.

The approximate damage is estimated to be more than $1,000.

The statue had been temporarily removed for repairs in 2012 after it was struck by a car.

Anyone with information on this case is asked to call the Sarasota Police Department at 941-954-7025 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers by calling 941-366-TIPS.

After more than 40 years learning and helping others understand more about so many aspects of our world and living in it, I still love making connections between national news stories and our community. It's exciting when I can find a thread between a national program or greater premise and what is happening at the local or personal level. This has been true whether I’ve spun the novelty tunes of Raymond Scott or Wilmoth Houdini from a tiny outpost in a Vermont field, or shared the voices of incarcerated women about what it’s like to be behind bars on Mother’s Day with the entire state of New Hampshire.
Mark Schreiner is the assistant news director and intern coordinator for WUSF News.
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