Bay Area celebration of life honors pilot, former prisoner captured in iconic Vietnam War photo
As the United States ventures into war with Iran, the nation carries lessons learned from past conflicts, including Vietnam. On Saturday, a pilot and former prisoner of that war was remembered for the life he lived and what his eventual return, captured in an iconic photograph, symbolized for the nation.
Wars are often remembered for the images they produce: the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima, a little Vietnamese girl running naked from a napalm attack, a young woman wailing over the body of a slain protester at Kent State.
They are moments frozen in time that show the good, the bad and the ugly. But one image from the Vietnam War, captured by Bay Area Associated Press photographer Sal Veder, was able to offer the nation some closure.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning photo, entitled "Burst of Joy," was taken in 1973 at Travis Air Force Base as the Vietnam prisoners of war were being reunited with loved ones. In it, the entire family is seen running to embrace Col. Robert Stirm.
Lorrie Stirm Kitching was the young woman jumping with her arms outstretched for the father she hadn't seen in six years.
"Sal got both my brother, Roger, and I totally off the ground. It just, it makes me happy every time I see it. I'm happy because my dad came home," said Lorrie. "In the photo, you don't see my father's face; you see the back of my father. And so, I think that could be representative of every person coming home from the war. I think they could feel the genuine joy in that. And he was representative of everyone coming home."
In November, on Veterans Day, Stirm passed away at the age of 92. On Saturday, family, friends and a group of fellow retired airmen gathered in San Mateo to celebrate the life of a man who endured unspeakable torture during 1,966 days of captivity in the infamous Hanoi Hilton prison camp.
"When he finally returned home in 1973, reunited with his family as part of Operation Homecoming, it was a moment that symbolized not just freedom, but perseverance," Stirm's son Roger said in his eulogy. "The image of his return became iconic, a reunion that touched a nation."
Steve Sweeney is a fellow Air Force pilot who said the photo was something the nation desperately needed at the time.
"It was an iconic photo of the time of veterans coming home after war," he said. "It was relief at the end of the war and it was the relief of a family, the joy they felt."
Stirm grew up in San Francisco. He was allowed to return to flying after his release and completed a 24-year career as a fighter pilot. He continued as an Air Force Reservist until the age of 71.
On Saturday, as a final salute, Sweeney organized a "missing man" formation flyover of military aircraft over the church. It is considered the ultimate posthumous tribute for those who have worn the nation's wings on their uniforms. In this case, for one whose image helped deliver not just a family but an entire nation from the agony of war.