Daughter in ‘Burst of Joy’ photo receives father’s POW bracelet decades later
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.
In short
- 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.
Explained simply
During the Vietnam War, US air force officer Robert Stirm was shot down over Hanoi in 1967 and held as a prisoner of war for more than five years. Some Americans wore metal bracelets engraved with the names of captured or missing service personnel, promising to keep them until the person came home.
Stirm returned to the United States in 1973, and a photograph of him reuniting with his family became known as “Burst of Joy”. His daughter Lorrie Kitching was among those pictured. The bracelets and the photograph are reminders of the long absences and uncertainty experienced by families of prisoners of war.
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Originally published by Daily Mail as “Woman immortalized in Pulitzer-winning Vietnam photo is stunned to receive POW bracelet after 53 years”.