A Vietnam veteran's daughter who is featured in one of the most famous photographs of the last century has revealed 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 POW. The moment of their reunion was captured in a Pulitzer-prize winning photograph known as "Burst of Joy.” The photo was taken by Associated Press photographer Sal Veder at Travis Air Force Base in Solano County, Calif. 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 front and center in the public's mind. They featured the names of U.S. servicemen and the date when they had been captured. Wearers vowed to wear 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, Calif., received one of the bracelets in a package from Mary Kay Potyraj of Michigan, who found the bracelet while cleaning out the belongings of her husband Rob after he died. 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.
