# Daughter in ‘Burst of Joy’ photo receives father’s POW bracelet decades later

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/woman-immortalized-in-pulitzer-winning-vietnam-photo-is-stunned-to-receive-pow-bracelet-after-53-years/
- Published: 2026-10-31T12:03:21+00:00
- Updated: 2026-10-31T12:13:06+00:00
- Original publisher: Daily Mail (publisher lean: Right)
- Original article: https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16245873/Woman-immortalized-Pulitzer-winning-Vietnam-photo-stunned-receive-POW-bracelet-53-years.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490
- Topics: World

## Key points

- Lorrie Kitching received her father’s POW bracelet 53 years later.
- Mary Kay Potyraj found it among her late husband’s belongings.
- The bracelet commemorates Robert Stirm’s time as a prisoner of war.

## Summary

Lorrie Kitching, whose joyful reunion with her father was captured in the Pulitzer-winning photograph “Burst of Joy”, has received his POW bracelet more than five decades later. The gift brought back the uncertainty she felt when her father, Robert Stirm, returned from captivity in Vietnam in 1973.

Mary Kay Potyraj of Michigan found the bracelet among her late husband’s belongings and traced Stirm’s family to return it. It bears details of Stirm, who was shot down over Hanoi on 27 October 1967 and spent more than five years as a prisoner of war. POW bracelets were introduced in 1970 to keep attention on captured servicemen; wearers pledged to keep them until their return. Stirm died last year, aged 92.

---
Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.