BREAKING NEWS – Washington, D.C. – Two Republican lawmakers are calling for the removal of a Veterans Affairs official responsible for a since-rescinded memo that directed the removal of the iconic 1945 V-J Day in Times Square photograph from VA health care centers.
Montana Sen. Steve Daines and Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont. wrote to VA Secretary Denis McDonough after an X account, “End Wokeness,” published a memo sent from Assistant Under Secretary for Health Operations Rima Ann Nelson last week.
In the memo, Nelson called for the historic photo of a Navy sailor kissing a woman in Times Square on V-J Day in 1945 to be removed from all VA medical buildings because it doesn’t foster a “more trauma-informed environment that promotes psychological safety.”
Nelson responded by saying that the photo is not all inclusive, and it would’ve more acceptable if the photo of the two people kissing were of two different ethnicities, or of the exact same sex.