The photograph Burst of Joy. From left to right, Lt. Col. Robert L. Stirm, Lorrie Stirm, Bo Stirm, Cindy Stirm, Loretta Stirm, and Roger Stirm.
(© Slava Veder / Associated Press)

Burst of Joy was a Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph, taken by Associated Press photographer Slava Veder at Travis Air Force Base, California on March 17, 1973. The photograph came to symbolize the end of United States involvement in the Vietnam War, as well as a prevailing sentiment to move on from the horrors the war incurred on soldiers and their families. The Associated Press, or AP, is an American news agency, the worlds largest such organization. ... The gold medal awarded for Public Service in Journalism The Pulitzer Prize is an American award regarded as the highest honor in print journalism, literary achievements, and musical compositions. ... The Associated Press, or AP, is an American news agency, the worlds largest such organization. ... March 17 is the 76th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (77th in Leap years). ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ... Combatants Republic of Vietnam United States Republic of Korea Thailand Australia New Zealand The Philippines National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam Democratic Republic of Vietnam People’s Republic of China Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea Strength US 1,000,000 South Korea 300,000 Australia 48,000...

In the photograph, United States Air Force Lt. Col. Robert L. Stirm, shot down by Viet Cong soldiers near Hanoi in 1967, was finally released from a prisoner of war camp and reunited with his family. The visibly happiest member of the family in the photograph was Stirm's 15-year-old daughter Lorrie, who ran toward her father with arms outstretched, while the rest of her family trailed. The U.S. Air Force redirects here, for the official song, see The U.S. Air Force (song) The United States Air Force (USAF) is the aerospace branch of the United States armed forces and one of the seven uniformed services. ... In the U.S. Army, Air Force and Marine Corps, a lieutenant colonel is a commissioned officer superior to a major and inferior to a colonel. ... Hanoi (Vietnamese: Hà Nội), estimated population 3,083,800 (2004), is the capital of Vietnam. ... 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ... Geneva Convention definition A prisoner of war (POW) is a soldier, sailor, airman, or marine who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. ...

Despite outward appearances, the reunion was an unhappy one. Three days before arriving in the United States, which was also the day Stirm was released from the POW camp, he received a Dear John letter from his wife Loretta, announcing that she had moved on. In 1974, the Stirms divorced and Loretta remarried. All of the family members in the picture received copies of it once Burst of Joy won the Pulitzer Prize. They all prominently display it in their homes, except for Robert Stirm, who says he cannot bear to look at it. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ...

About the picture and its legacy, Stirm's daughter Lorrie once noted, "We have this very nice picture of a very happy moment, but every time I look at it, I remember the families that weren't reunited, and the ones that aren't being reunited today — many, many families — and I think, I'm one of the lucky ones."

Donald Goldstein, a retired Air Force colonel and a co-author of a prominent Vietnam War photojournalism book, The Vietnam War: The Stories and The Photographs, says of Burst of Joy, "After years of fighting a war we couldn't win, a war that tore us apart, it was finally over, and the country could start healing." Sports photojournalists at Indianapolis Motor Speedway Photojournalism is a particular form of journalism (the collecting, editing, and presenting of news material for publication or broadcast) that creates images in order to tell a news story. ...

Reference

• January 2005 interview with the family, from Smithsonian magazine