The Tragic Story of the 'Burst of Joy' Vietnam Photograph

On March 13, 1973, photographer Slava 'Sal' Veder captured the moment that Vietnam war veteran and POW Lt. Col. Robert Stirm was reunited with his family. Stirm had been held in Vietnam for nearly six years, and this photograph came to represent not only his personal victory in returning home, but also the path to healing the United States needed to embark on after the Vietnam War. Yet the real story behind this photograph, titled "Burst of Joy," is far from the happy, joyful depiction Veder captured. The reality behind the photo was a very different story.

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[badwizard]

I was a bomb loader during the Christmas bombings that brought those guys home. We watched them got off the plane at Clark on a little b&w tv. We were proud of them and ourselves. We like to think we had a part in freeing them.
So sad to hear the tales of their broken lives. All of us that went over there suffered some. Often the same kinda thing, but this guy really hit bottom.
I say welcome home to all the Vietnam vets. Be proud of your service. Be proud of yourself. We fought a thankless war that many avoided in every way possible. We’re better, braver, stronger than those who stayed home could ever hope to be.

[kenhuffman]

Being a Vietnam Veteran I can relate to his story and struggles.
My family didn't welcome me back my Dad never believed that I was actually in Vietnam, it took me a long time to convince him.
A lot of broken marriages and hard times to adjust the PTSD, the Anxiety the nightmares.
Thankfully the VA was there to help.
May the Vietnam Veterans find peace in their lives.

[alissadoan]

My dad was among millions Vietnamese prisoners that got sent to jail to re-educate. He left us when we were little. My mother would always bring us to visit him as many time as we were allowed so we don’t forget him. She kept us together until one day he showed up in the front door. We were so happy. Yes things were up and down between them. My dad changed dramatically. Things got very hard but we always appreciate life. We don’t blame our parents but thankful that he got a second to come home to us. He took really good care of my mother b4 she died. We are thankful each day that our children get to know him

[randomoverpopulatedworldid]

being from and still in a military family, this is truly a tragic story. so sad. my father came back and never stopped drinking after the war. then parents divorced. he was then a homeless veteran this country gave up on for 15yrs before I reunited with him and helped him into a trailer. he lives on to this day, drinking everyday. he'll prob live to be 80. or like he jokes, "until the marines tell me i can die, i'm not allowed to." semper fi Dad.

[JR-lypu]

To all the Vietnam vets out there-Thank you for your service and welcome home. You are not forgotten and your service is very much appreciated. From one vet to another thank you.82nd airborne GWOT AATW.

[GaelinW]

Well, the "burst of joy" was true in that moment. It's sad and unfortunate that the photo wasn't representative of their lives. But no photo is. A photo is simply the capture of a moment in time.

[tototakto]

This is the true face of war, there is no glory, no honor, only suffering, pain, PTSD, ruined lives, broken families...

[MomotheToothless]

I think Stirm has the right to be bitter about everything. The photo serves as a reminder of not only what happened during the war, but also what came after.

[dtaylor]

My sympathies to Col Stirm. I was not a POW but did fight in that war. I had received a "Dear John" from my high school sweetheart and fiance so I volunteered for Vietnam. Later in life I divorced from my 1st wife and she got 1/2 of my retirement also. She has since remarried to another Vietnam vet but 32 years later is still receiving 1/2 of my retirement. Something is wrong with Congress approving such a law! She was still in high school while I was fighting a war!

[m.e.w.]

When I see this picture, I can almost put myself in it because it reminds me so powerfully of all the same emotions I had when my own father returned from Vietnam. The overwhelming joy and relief you feel on first seeing your Dad after he returns from war, when you spent more than a year while he was gone, wondering and worrying that the day he left for that war might be the last time you would ever see him again and praying every day, hoping against hope that he would one day return home to his family. These are feelings that never leave you if you’ve experienced them. I remember feeling exactly what that young lady felt about her Dad finally coming home again.

[mikitz]

What I learned from my days in the military was that army service is a single man's game. That way you (or anyone else) have nothing to lose.

[littlejourneyseverywhere]

It makes me wonder how many of the returning POWs experiences this same tragedy when they returned. Families who had mourned then already and then moved on without them suddenly had a husband/father risen from the dead, so to speak

[shenandoah]

We actually met him by chance at a strange moment in life when we had to empty out my husband’s deceased brother’s apartment in California. He told us who he was, and it was really thrilling to be in the presence of someone who’d seen so much and had been in such an iconic, though sad, photo.

[scuddrunner]

I'm teary eyed watching this. My dad was a pilot in the war ans as a kid I watched the news every night looking to see if his plane got shot down, many were downed every night. He came home after a year, longest year of my life I feel for the kids whose dad didn't come home.

[christopherreese]

To all my Vietnam Veterans, Welcome Home. Thank you all for your service to this nation. The Vietnam War was an unpopular war and y’all had to take the the crap for the government’s failures.

[TheDevilsquid]

To all the Veitnam vets, THANK YOU for taking on the job that NOONE wanted to do! You guys are the true hero's as well as every man and woman who has served and continues to serve in the U.S. military.

[joycegallowayparker]

Thank you for your service, Mr. Stirm, you are much appreciated. I think you got a really raw deal in your divorce, both from your wife and the court. It's things like this as well as the countless homeless vets in this country that makes me feel that our vets are treated so badly, and makes me ashamed of the ones who treat you that way, and of our government who not only allows it, but also does nothing about it.

[ShiftingDrifter]

It's important to remember Col Stirm was not alone - and this scenario was no anomaly among home-coming service members. There were many POWs who's wives enjoyed drawing their husband's monthly income (including hazardous duty pay), while also exploring extramarital affairs, and then - immediately upon receiving word of their POW husbands were returning home, filed for divorce. It's impossible to imagine... after years of torture and deteriorating health, to come home to discover you have no more home, no family, and no money... and you're alone.

[JuanHernandez-wiqp]

Being a vietnam vet myself I relate to the story behind the picture it's another sad reminder of how everyone turned their backs on us after us doing our duty

[harryparmley]

I cannot add any more to this tragic story than my own experiences. For Co Stiim's six years I can only relate with my own six years of service in and around Nam: I was gone nine months of every year. I was blessed because I was alive and well and unmarried, so I didn't suffer the anxiety of the reunions. On the other hand, I missed the reunions, the families on the pier, someone to hold. After Nam I did that for another 26 years, with all the love, children, wives (oh, yeah), and pains that go along with life in the military. I eventually buried two wives, only divorced one of them, hated one and loved the other, but ended up liking both. The war and military are over now for the last 22 years and I luckily survived with a loving wife, tons of grands- and g-grands and I am incredibly blessed... and I pray daily for the less fortunate of my brethren...