The woman in the famous Times Square kiss photo marking the end of WWII 'never felt violated' even though it was a surprise, her granddaughter has revealed.

After the Department of Veterans Affairs tried to ban the 1945 image from its facilities, Caroline Branin told DailyMail.com that her grandmother Greta Friedman viewed the iconic photo as a 'celebration of the end of the war.'

US Navy sailor George Mendonsa did grab Friedman in the 'spontaneous' moment but she was 'really proud of it' until the day she died, Branin said.

The patriotic image shows Mendonsa bending Friedman, a dental nurse, over as he kissed her in Times Square in New York in August 1945.

While three women have claimed to be the woman in the photo, Friedman was identified as its subject in an authoritative book in 2012 on the subject.

She died in 2016 aged 92 in Richmond, Virginia.

Branin, 28, told DailyMail.com: 'She was always very proud of the image and she thought it was two young people celebrating in the street.

'It was really something they were just very happy about. My grandma signed images of the photo up until she died.

'She was proud to be an American citizen. She was a refugee from Austria and so the end of the war marked more to her than for everyday people.