Woman in Iconic Vietnam POW Reunion Photo Receives Bracelet 53 Years Later
Lorrie Kitching, who was 15 when her father returned, was stunned to receive a POW bracelet from a stranger containing her father's name and capture date.
Fifty-three years after her father returned home from being a prisoner of war in Vietnam, Lorrie Kitching has been reunited with a poignant symbol of his captivity: a POW bracelet.
Kitching, now 69, was famously photographed with her arms outstretched as she ran towards her father, Lt Col Robert Stirm, upon his arrival at Travis Air Force Base in California in 1973. The image, titled 'Burst of Joy,' captured the emotional reunion and later won a Pulitzer Prize.
Recently, Kitching received an unexpected package from Mary Kay Potyraj of Michigan. Inside was a POW bracelet engraved with her father's name and the date he was shot down over Hanoi: October 27, 1967. POW bracelets were created in 1970 to keep the plight of captured servicemen in public awareness, with wearers vowing to keep the bracelets until the individuals returned home safely.
Potyraj found the bracelet while sorting through her late husband Rob's belongings. After learning about Lt Col Stirm's story through news reports, she was inspired to locate his family and return the bracelet.
"I was like, 'Oh, this is unbelievable,'" Potyraj told KION. "I just did my best to figure out where this person is. Is there a family that would like to have it."
Kitching described the bracelet as more than just a piece of metal, telling 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," she added, reflecting on the significance of the bracelet and the photograph.
Lt Col Stirm, who spent more than five years as a POW, died last year at the age of 92 and was interred at Arlington National Cemetery.