Coming Home
To a war-weary nation, a U.S. POW's return from captivity in Vietnam in 1973 looked like the happiest of reunions
- By Carolyn Kleiner Butler
- Smithsonian magazine, January 2005, Subscribe
Sitting in the back seat of a station wagon on the tarmac at Travis Air Force Base, in California, clad in her favorite fuchsia miniskirt, 15-year-old Lorrie Stirm felt that she was in a dream. It was March 17, 1973, and it had been six long years since she had last seen her father, Lt. Col. Robert L. Stirm, an Air Force fighter pilot who was shot down over Hanoi in 1967 and had been missing or imprisoned ever since. She simply couldn't believe they were about to be reunited. The teenager waited while her father stood in front of a jubilant crowd and made a brief speech on behalf of himself and other POW's who had arrived from Vietnam as part of "Operation Homecoming."
The minutes crept by like hours, she recalls, and then, all at once, the car door opened. "I just wanted to get to Dad as fast as I could," Lorrie says. She tore down the runway toward him with open arms, her spirits—and feet—flying. Her mother, Loretta, and three younger siblings—Robert Jr., Roger and Cindy—were only steps behind. "We didn't know if he would ever come home," Lorrie says. "That moment was all our prayers answered, all our wishes come true."
Associated Press photographer Slava "Sal" Veder, who'd been standing in a crowded bullpen with dozens of other journalists, noticed the sprinting family and started taking pictures. "You could feel the energy and the raw emotion in the air," says Veder, then 46, who had spent much of the Vietnam era covering antiwar demonstrations in San Francisco and Berkeley. The day was overcast, meaning no shadows and near-perfect light. He rushed to a makeshift darkroom in a ladies' bathroom on the base (United Press International had commandeered the men's). In less than half an hour, Veder and his AP colleague Walt Zeboski had developed six remarkable images of that singular moment. Veder's pick, which he instantly titled Burst of Joy, was sent out over the news-service wires, published in newspapers around the nation and went on to win a Pulitzer Prize in 1974.
It remains the quintessential homecoming photograph of the time. Stirm, 39, who had endured gunshot wounds, torture, illness, starvation and despair in North Vietnamese prison camps, including the infamous Hanoi Hilton, is pictured in a crisp new uniform. Because his back is to the camera, as Veder points out, the officer seems anonymous, an everyman who represented not only the hundreds of POW's released that spring but all the troops in Vietnam who would return home to the mothers, fathers, wives, daughters and sons they'd left behind. "It's a hero's welcome for guys who weren't always seen or treated as heroes," says Donald Goldstein, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and a coauthor of The Vietnam War: The Stories and The Photographs, of the Stirm family reunion picture. "After years of fighting a war we couldn't win, a war that tore us apart, it was finally over, and the country could start healing."
But there was more to the story than was captured on film. Three days before Stirm landed at Travis, a chaplain had handed him a Dear John letter from his wife. "I can't help but feel ambivalent about it," Stirm says today of the photograph. "I was very pleased to see my children—I loved them all and still do, and I know they had a difficult time—but there was a lot to deal with." Lorrie says, "So much had happened—there was so much that my dad missed out on—and it took a while to let him back into our lives and accept his authority." Her parents were divorced within a year of his return. Her mother remarried in 1974 and lives in Texas with her husband. Robert retired from the Air Force as a colonel in 1977 and worked as a corporate pilot and businessman. He married and was divorced again. Now 72 and retired, he lives in Foster City, California.
As for the rest of the family, Robert Jr. is a dentist in Walnut Creek, California; he and his wife have four children, the oldest of whom is a marine. Roger, a major in the Air Force, lives outside Seattle. Cindy Pierson, a waitress, resides in Walnut Creek with her husband and has a daughter in college. And Lorrie Stirm Kitching, now 47, is an executive administrator and mother of two sons. She lives in Mountain View, California, with her husband. All four of Robert Stirm Sr.'s children have a copy of Burst of Joy hanging in a place of honor on their walls. But he says he can't bring himself to display the picture.
Three decades after the Stirm reunion, the scene, having appeared in countless books, anthologies and exhibitions, remains part of the nation's collective consciousness, often serving as an uplifting postscript to Vietnam. That the moment was considerably more fraught than we first assumed makes it all the more poignant and reminds us that not all war casualties occur on the battlefield.
"We have this very nice picture of a very happy moment," Lorrie says, "but every time I look at it, I remember the families that weren't reunited, and the ones that aren't being reunited today—many, many families—and I think, I'm one of the lucky ones."
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Comments (18)
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Navy man from 66 to 70. In country in Nha B from 69 - 70. I still cannot watch any of the homecoming videos although I would love to. Still too many monsters in my head. The greatest sight about Operation Homecoming was watching Lorrie on the tarmac. I have look in vein for an 8X10 photo but can't find any. God bless he, her mother, father, and ALL veterans from all the wars. We will never forget. When I stepped off the plane in 1970 in San Francisco, I could not believe people hated me. I was spit on by a girl no older than 20. I still cannot understand it till this day. God Bless Lt. Col. Robert L. Stirm, all the other POW's and thier families!!!! Warm Regards Zayle Carter
Posted by Zayle Cater on November 19,2012 | 12:35 PM
Thank you everyone for your wonderful comments. I am Col. Stirm's oldest grandchild (30 years old), and his oldest child Lorrie's oldest son. To those that had expressed a desire to return a bracelet to Col. Stirm, or for any other information, please feel free to email me: chrisclarkcpt@gmail.com To those that touched on his first wife's (and my grandmother) "infidelity", I think everyone should know that his children and their mother did not know the status of their father/husband. He was a POW for 6 years, and for 6 long years his 4 children grew up being told by the military that they had no idea where their father was or if he was alive. They were never told that he was being held as a POW, or if he would ever return, or he was even alive or dead. The same went for his wife, who had struggled as a homemaker who had never paid bills or managed family matters until her husband left for Vietnam. After several years of heartache and struggle, life played it's course and a new relationship developed for Loretta. The "Dear John" letter was written so that Loretta could come to terms that her husband was not coming back and that life was moving on, she wrote it expecting him to never see it, as she heartbreakingly believed she would never see him again. Upon his return, she broke off her relationship and attempted to salvage her broken family now that all of the pieces had physically been put back together. Unfortunately, the marriage would not survive, and both remarried (Col. Stirm divorced in the last 10 years, and Loretta passed away from Cancer in 2010, still married to the same man she had met while Col. Stirm was a POW). This is an extremely sensitive family matter, and I beg all who choose to comment publicly, to please refrain from passing judgement on either person with regards to the relationship between Col. Robert Stirm & Loretta. Thank you.
Posted by Chris Clark on October 16,2012 | 01:27 PM
Wow this brought back memories from when my father came home from Vietnam. I was in the 9th grade 2weeks after the new year 1969. We met him at the airport in Des Moines. He wore his fatigues that he had put on the day before while still in country. I remember how wrinkled his clothes were, and his yellow teeth. I was so happy to see him and had just got a butch haircut to show him that I loved him (remember this was 1969). As we walked out of the airport I noticed other men in uniforms hugging their mothers as they were preparing to leave. My parents ended their marriage a few years later. War is hell.
Posted by mark burns on March 18,2012 | 09:23 PM
I came across this photo as part of a collage on a You Tube video. I was about nine years old when the event occured in 1973. I would see this image off and on throughout the seventies especially, and for the past 30-odd years. Looking at it anew and reading the article, really brings back memories - and tears - I have to admit. I think it is one of the greatest photographs ever taken. For those of us who lived through this era and remember, it really sums up the times and the feelings of many, not just the family in the photo. It becomes especially poignant when you read the story behind it. The tragedy is just what we lost during this time. The men, the women, tens of thousands of orphaned boys and girls, hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese killed, millions of lives and souls ruined. Our innocence destroyed, and nothing really learned. No apologies, just more of the same. My heart goes out to Col. Stirm and his family.
Posted by Rob on March 17,2012 | 10:50 AM
Did Col Stirms ex wife Loretta grant any interviews after their divorce.
I read a People magazine article written in 1974 where Col Stirm presented, in a custody/divorce hearing, evidence of her infidelity while he was a POW.
Posted by chuck on February 24,2012 | 07:35 PM
Thank You Lorrie Stirm for this precious moment in time. Your unbridled love flows from the photograph straight into my heart. Thanks to all the Stirm family for sharing your story. I also thank all that have posted here for sharing their thoughts. Navy vet 1965--1969.
Posted by Johnny Wilson on February 10,2012 | 10:00 AM
I well up every time I look at that picture. Learning the back story behind it many years ago makes it even more gripping.
Posted by John Kanelis on July 12,2011 | 09:16 AM
When I was 14, I sent for 2 bracelets. One has been misplaced. I got the other one out today. The name on my bracelet is Maj. Robert Stirm. The date 10-27-67. I googled his name & just found out about his homecoming. I never knew.
I am going to try to get this bracelet back to the Stirms, where it belongs.
Posted by Deb in Iowa on May 29,2011 | 07:36 PM
Here's a link to Loretta's obituary, the then-wife of Lt. Col Stirm. She died in August 2010.
http://obits.dignitymemorial.com/dignity-memorial/obituary.aspx?n=Loretta-Adams&lc=4886&pid=144674684&mid=4347106
Posted by pugo46 on February 24,2011 | 10:35 PM
As a sophmore in high school in 1971 I purchased a POW bracelet with the name Lt. Col. Robert Stirm. I never took it off until his return my senior year. I read all the news articles about him after his return and never forgot him or his sacrifice for our country. I kept the bracelet for many years, yet it was stolen several years ago. I still remember how I cried when I saw his name in the paper on a list of POW's returning from Vietnam. I also recall the feeling when I saw the picture "Burst of Joy" for the first time. I get the same feeling each time I see it.
Posted by Robin Fontes, Sacramento, CA on February 23,2011 | 04:32 AM
the picture is a great picture of joy and human spirit
being lonely is full of temptations, she was tempted to bolt away,,,, human frailty
colonel you have all my respect, i admire your biography and i pray you will live a longer life
i have a copy of this picture in my office and i keep this because this reminds me of the human behavior
i do not blame his wife for being unfaithful colonel does not deserve this divorce but this is life, we all make mistakes
colonel tried to find his happiness and failed again this is life
over all i like the picture and i wish that all the stirns r
Posted by antonio tuason on December 23,2010 | 10:00 AM
I knew simply from the text of the story which picture this was referring to. I've seen it many times and would stare at it raptly whenever I ran across it. It always makes my chest tighten and my eyes tear up.
The joy that Lorrie is feeling at that moment physically radiates from the photo and I share in that feeling as I was lucky enough to have both my brothers come back from fighting in Southeast Asia.
Posted by Donna on October 20,2010 | 01:44 AM
A very iconic and poignant photograph, considering the ongoing issues of the parents' relationship. It is obvious that the children's exhuberance and joy of seeing their father is real and genuine. On the other hand, maybe the mother's smile was staged? (Too bad she couldn't be airbrushed out of the photograph...).
Posted by Mike Chung on October 1,2010 | 11:55 AM
Dear Lorrie,
I'm the eldest son of a soldier who did not return from Vietnam. The photograph of your family together after so much time apart is something my family and I never had. The love you and your sister and brothers have for your father makes this image transformational. Your love lightens the weight of our sorrow...
My very best to your father. Thank him for his service to our country.
Posted by John Petric on August 17,2010 | 02:49 PM
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