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Image Not Available for Burst of Joy (Vietnam P.O.W. Lieutenant Colonel Robert L. Stirm, Reunited with his Family, Travis Air Force Base, San Jose, California)
Burst of Joy (Vietnam P.O.W. Lieutenant Colonel Robert L. Stirm, Reunited with his Family, Travis Air Force Base, San Jose, California)
Image Not Available for Burst of Joy (Vietnam P.O.W. Lieutenant Colonel Robert L. Stirm, Reunited with his Family, Travis Air Force Base, San Jose, California)

Burst of Joy (Vietnam P.O.W. Lieutenant Colonel Robert L. Stirm, Reunited with his Family, Travis Air Force Base, San Jose, California)

Artist (American, born 1926)
Artist (founded 1846)
DateMarch 17, 1973
MediumWire photo
Dimensionssight: 19.6 x 26.9 cm (7 11/16 x 10 9/16 in.)
frame: 44.5 x 50.8 cm (17 1/2 x 20 in.)
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineGift of Howard G. Davis, III A.K.A. David Davis
Object number2011.177
Label TextStanding on the tarmac at Travis Air Force base on March 17, 1973, Veder witnessed Lieutenant Colonel Robert L. Stirm meeting his family after six years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. Thrilled with the image of fifteen-year-old Lorrie Stirm running to her father’s arms, Veder rushed to develop his exposure in a makeshift darkroom in a ladies’ restroom (United Press International photographers had commandeered the men’s). Robert Stirm recalls the event with ambivalence; three days before, he received a letter from his wife informing him of her new relationship having assumed he had died.
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