Embracing Peace statue (giant kissing sailor)

San Diego, California, United States

Landmarks and monuments

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Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

This Big Thing is recorded as still being here.

Embracing Peace is a 25-foot bronze sculpture by Seward Johnson of a sailor kissing a nurse, at Tuna Harbor Park beside the USS Midway Museum on San Diego's North Embarcadero. The bronze was installed in 2013, after a temporary foam-urethane version stood from 2007 to 2012.

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Embracing Peace statue (giant kissing sailor)

This pin marks the Big Thing itself. If stopping, choose a safe and legal place nearby.

Site-level location · 32.7148° N, 117.1733° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

A 25-foot sailor and nurse locked in a kiss stand on the San Diego waterfront beside the USS Midway Museum, and the pair divided opinion before becoming a bayfront fixture. Sculptor Seward Johnson made the work, then titled "Unconditional Surrender", in 2005 as a temporary display for Times Square, marking the 60th anniversary of Victory over Japan Day. KSWB reported in 2023 that Johnson cited a public-domain photograph by Navy Lieutenant Victor Jorgensen, rather than Alfred Eisenstaedt's better-known image, as his source.

A foam-urethane version arrived at Tuna Harbor Park in 2007 on a 15-month loan from the Sculpture Foundation in Santa Monica, and the Port of San Diego placed it on the park's Greatest Generation Walk of Second World War memorials. Critics split. A Port public art committee member called it "very kitschy, but it's also popular", according to art critic Robert Pincus, who reviewed it for the San Diego Union-Tribune in 2007. The Port kept extending the loan until 2012, when the foam version was dismantled.

After a contentious 4 to 2 port board vote, supporters raised $1 million in eight weeks, led by the USS Midway Museum and a local architect, KSWB reported. A roughly seven-ton bronze replica was installed in 2013 and has been called "Embracing Peace"; Pincus says the title was changed because the earlier one "was not as well received". Pincus, who is critical of the work as art, adds that its plaque does not mention Eisenstaedt.

KSWB reported in 2023 that hundreds of people visit each day, many to copy the pose.

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PRACTICAL

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WHAT TO EXPECT

A 25-foot bronze sculpture at Tuna Harbor Park beside the USS Midway Museum. KSWB (2023) described it as a very popular photo spot. The Port of San Diego lists it among its public art.

ACCESS

At Tuna Harbor Park on North Embarcadero, on the San Diego waterfront next to the USS Midway Museum. The Port of San Diego lists it as public art at this park.

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