(Image source from: ABC Action News)

The ‘Unconditional Surrender’ statue in Florida, which portrays a sailor kissing a woman at the end of Word War II, was defaced with "#MeToo" red paint a day after the man in the famous photo capturing the kiss died at the age of 95.

The police are on the lookout for the culprit.

The statue is modeled after an iconic photo taken in Times Square right after the end of the WWII in 1945 and shows a woman dresses in a white uniform being embraced and kissed by a sailor to celebrate the end of the war, reported CNN.

The Sarasota Police Department said they responded to reports of someone spray painting one of the legs of the woman in the statue, but a search failed to yield either the spray paint bottles or a suspect.

Police said the paint was removed on Monday after estimating the cost of the damage would be more than $1,000.

The inspiration for the sculpture stems from August 14, 1945, photo in which a sailor in New York City's Times Square kissed a woman after it was announced Japan surrendered in World War II.

George Mendonsa, who long claimed to be the sailor in the photo, died on Sunday. The woman, Greta Friedman, was unknown to Mendonsa, but he pulled her in for a kiss on Victory over Japan Day. Mendonsa claimed that because of her outfit, he believed Friedman to be a nurse who served in the war and wanted to celebrate with her, but she later revealed she was a dental assistant and happened to be wearing all white.

Police believe the vandalism took place sometime on Monday afternoon or evening - just one day after Mendonsa passed away. Officers have not been able to locate any evidence in the area or surveillance video capturing the incident.

-Sowmya Sangam