| Submit your comments on this article |
| -Land of the Free |
| Woman immortalized in Pulitzer-winning Vietnam photo is stunned to receive POW bracelet after 53 years |
| 2026-11-01 |
| [Daily Mail, where America gets its news] A Vietnam veteran's daughter who features in one of the most famous photographs of the last century has told of her astonishment at receiving a poignant gift from a stranger 53 years later. Lorrie Kitching was 15 years old in 1973 when her father, Lt Col Robert Stirm, returned home from Vietnam after spending more than five years as a prisoner of war (POW). The moment of their reunion was captured in a Pulitzer-prize winning photograph known as 'Burst of Joy.' The now-legendary image was taken by the Associated Press snapper Slava 'Sal' Veder at Travis Air Force Base in Solano County, California. This week Kitching, now 69, revealed the emotional moment she received a package containing a POW bracelet engraved with her father's details. POW bracelets were introduced in 1970 in a bid to keep military members' suffering in the front and center of the public's mind. They featured the names of US servicemen and the date when they had been captured. Wearers vowed to keep them until the military members made it safely home. Stirm had been shot down over Hanoi, North Vietnam, on October 27, 1967, and a bracelet was issued featuring his details. All these years later Kitching, who lives in Mountain View, California, received one of the bracelets in a package from Mary Kay Potyraj of Michigan. Potyraj found the bracelet while clearing out the belongings of her husband Rob after he died, KION reported. 'I was like, "Oh, this is unbelievable,"' Potyraj said. She explained how upon reading about Stirm's story she was inspired to track down his relatives. ‘I just did my best to figure out where this person is. Is there a family that would like to have it,’ Potyraj said. Describing how moved she was to receive the unexpected package, Kitching told CBS13: ‘This isn’t just a piece of metal. It represents so much more.’ ‘It’s the day I lost my Dad, and I didn’t know if he was going to be coming home,' Kitching added. In a letter to Kitching, Potyraj wrote: ‘Dear Lorrie, so happy to reunite you with your father’s POW bracelet.' Stirm died last year at the age of 92 and was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery. |
| Posted by:Skidmark |
| #1 |
| Posted by: NN2N1 2026-11-01 05:29 |