Robert L. Stirm, Returning P.O.W. in Pulitzer-Winning Photo, Dies at 92

[dalton99a]

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/19/obituaries/robert-stirm-dead.html

https://archive.ph/ArFvc

Robert L. Stirm, Returning P.O.W. in Pulitzer-Winning Photo, Dies at 92
The image immortalized a Vietnam veteran’s joyous homecoming to his beaming family but hid the painful truth about a marriage that was about to end.
By Jeré Longman
Nov. 19, 2025 Updated 9:03 p.m. ET


Lt. Col. Robert L. Stirm on March 17, 1973, as he was greeted by his family at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, Calif., after five and a half years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam. His daughter Lorrie, in the foreground, is followed by the other children, Robert, Cynthia and Roger, and his wife, Loretta, is wearing a corsage. Sal Veder/Associated Press

Retired Col. Robert L. Stirm, an Air Force pilot whose return home to his family after more than five years of captivity in North Vietnam was the subject of a jubilant Pulitzer Prize-winning photo — an image that hid the painful truth about his marriage ending — died on Nov. 11 in Fairfield, Calif. He was 92.

His death, in a senior living community, was confirmed by his daughter, Lorrie Stirm Kitching.

On March 17, 1973, then-Lieutenant Colonel Stirm arrived home with 19 other former prisoners of war to Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, about 50 miles northeast of San Francisco. Lorrie, who was 15 at the time and his eldest daughter, raced to him on the tarmac in a moment immortalized by a photojournalist. Grinning ecstatically, she had her arms outstretched for a hug, and her feet were off the ground, as if levitating.

“It was like when you’re a little kid, and Santa is going to be coming, and you know it’s going to be amazing but you don’t know how amazing it’s going to be,” Ms. Stirm Kitching, now 68, said in an interview.

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[Shellback Squid]

1. trump does not like American service men who are captured

and those that died are worse, suckers and losers

As a vet that truly disgusts me, I was not the best serviceman but I still loved serving

[Deuxcents]

2. RIP, Dear Sir 🫡💐