by Carolyn Kleiner Butler

The minutes crept by like hours，” she recalls， and then， all at once， the car door opened. “I just wanted to get to Dad as fast as I could，” Lorrie says. She tore down the runway toward him with open arms， her spirits—and feet—flying. Her mother， Loretta， and three younger 1）siblings—Robert， Roger and Cindy—were only steps behind. “We didnt know if he would ever come home，” Lorrie says. “That moment was all our prayers answered， all our wishes come true.”

2）Associated Press photographer Slava Veder， whod been standing in a crowded bullpen with dozens of other journalists， noticed the 3）sprinting family and started taking pictures. “You could feel the energy and the raw emotion in the air，” says Veder， then 46， who had spent much of the Vietnam era covering antiwar demonstrations in San Francisco and 4）Berkeley. The day was overcast， meaning no shadows and near-perfect light.He rushed to a 5）makeshift darkroom in a ladies bathroom on the base （6）United Press International had commandeered the mens）. In less than half an hour， Veder and his AP colleague Walt Zeboski had developed six remarkable images of that singular moment. Veders pick， which he instantly titled Burst of Joy， was sent out over the newsservice wires， published in newspapers around the nation and went on to win a Pulitzer Prize in 1974.

It remains the 7）quintessential homecoming photograph of the time. Stirm， 39， who had endured gunshot wounds， torture， illness， starvation and despair in North Vietnamese prison camps， including the 8）infamous 9）Hanoi Hilton， is pictured in a crisp new uniform. Because his back is to the camera， as Veder points out， the officer seems anonymous， an everyman who represented not only the hundreds of 10）POWs released that spring but all the troops in Vietnam who would return home to the mothers， fathers， wives， daughters and sons theyd left behind. “Its a heros welcome for guys who werent always seen or treated as heroes，” says Donald Goldstein， a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and 11）coauthor of The Vietnam War： The Stories and The Photographs. “After years of fighting a war we couldnt win， a war that tore us apart， it was finally over， and the country could start healing.”

But there was more to the story than was captured on film. Three days before Stirm landed at Travis Air Force Base， a 12）chaplain had handed him a 13）Dear John letter from his wife. “I cant help but feel 14）ambivalent about it，” Stirm says today of the photograph. “I was very pleased to see my children—I loved them all and still do， and I know they had a difficult time—but there was a lot to deal with.”

Lorrie says， “So much had happened—there was so much that my dad missed out on—and it took a while to let him back into our lives and accept his authority.”

Her parents were divorced within a year of his return. Her mother remarried in 1974 and lives in Texas with her husband. Stirm retired from the Air Force as a colonel in 1977 and worked as a corporate pilot and businessman. He married and was divorced again. Now 72 and retired， he lives in Foster City， California.

As for the rest of the family， Robert is a dentist in 15）Walnut Creek， California； he and his wife have four children， the oldest of whom is a marine. Roger， a major in the Air Force， lives outside 16）Seattle. Cindy， a waitress， resides in Walnut Creek with her husband and has a daughter in college. And Lorrie， now 47， is an executive administrator and mother of two sons. She lives in 17）Mountain View， California， with her husband. All four of Stirms children have a copy of Burst of Joy hanging in a place of honor on their walls. But he says he cant bring himself to display the picture.

Three decades after the Stirm reunion， the scene， having appeared in countless books， anthologies and exhibitions， remains part of the nations collective consciousness， often serving as an 18）uplifting postscript to Vietnam. That the moment was considerably more fraught than we first assumed makes it all the more 19）poignant and reminds us that not all war casualties occur on the battlefield.

Lorrie says， “Every time I look at the picture， I remember the families that werent reunited， and the ones that arent being reunited today—many， many families—and I think， Im one of the lucky ones.”

那幾分鐘慢得就好像幾個(gè)小時(shí)一樣，”她回憶道，然后，突然間，車(chē)門(mén)開(kāi)了?！拔抑幌氡M快跑到爸爸身邊，”洛麗說(shuō)。當(dāng)時(shí)，她沿著跑道，張開(kāi)雙臂，朝著父親沖了過(guò)去，她的心情——和腳步——都飛了起來(lái)。她的媽媽洛雷塔，還有三個(gè)弟妹——羅伯特、羅杰和辛迪——緊隨其后。“之前，我們都不曉得他還能不能回來(lái)，”洛麗說(shuō)?！澳且豢?，我們所有的祝禱都得到了回應(yīng)，我們所有的愿望都得以實(shí)現(xiàn)?！?/p>

美聯(lián)社攝影記者斯拉瓦·韋德注意到了這個(gè)飛奔著團(tuán)聚的家庭并開(kāi)始拍照，當(dāng)時(shí)他正與其他幾十個(gè)記者擠在采訪區(qū)里?！澳隳芨惺艿娇諝庵心枪赡芰颗c真情實(shí)感，”韋德說(shuō)道，那時(shí)他46歲，越戰(zhàn)時(shí)期，他主要在舊金山和伯克利市報(bào)道反戰(zhàn)游行。那天是個(gè)陰天，沒(méi)有任何陰影，并且光線(xiàn)也近乎完美。

拍完照片，他立刻沖到了設(shè)在基地女廁所中的臨時(shí)暗房（美國(guó)合眾國(guó)際新聞社占用了男廁）。不到半小時(shí)，韋德和他美聯(lián)社的同事沃爾特·奇博斯基便洗出了定格那非凡時(shí)刻的六張出色照片。韋德選出一張，立馬將其命名為“迸發(fā)的喜悅”，發(fā)送給新聞社，美國(guó)全國(guó)各地的報(bào)紙上都刊登了這張照片。1974年，這張照片更獲得了普利策獎(jiǎng)。

這張照片仍是那個(gè)年代壯士歸故里的經(jīng)典照片。照片上穿著嶄新軍裝的斯特姆，時(shí)年39歲，在北越的戰(zhàn)俘營(yíng)里，包括那臭名昭著的河內(nèi)希爾頓戰(zhàn)俘營(yíng)，受過(guò)槍傷、拷問(wèn)，熬過(guò)疾病、饑餓和絕望。正如韋德所指出的，因?yàn)樗固啬繁硨?duì)鏡頭，所以這名軍官看似一個(gè)隱匿無(wú)名的普通人，不光代表著那年春天被釋放的數(shù)以百計(jì)的戰(zhàn)俘，也代表了即將從越南返家回到父母妻兒身邊的整支軍隊(duì)。“對(duì)于并不時(shí)常被視作英雄及受到英雄禮遇的人來(lái)說(shuō)，這是種對(duì)待英雄般的歡迎，” 唐納德·戈?duì)柎奶拐f(shuō)道，他是一名退役的空軍中校以及《越南戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)：故事與照片》一書(shū)的合著者。“這場(chǎng)我們打不贏的戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)持續(xù)了好幾年，將我們艱難地分開(kāi)，它終于結(jié)束了，國(guó)家也可以開(kāi)始休養(yǎng)生息了?！?/p>

但是，除了被膠卷捕捉的那一幕，那個(gè)家庭還有著更多的故事。就在斯特姆于特拉維斯空軍基地著陸的三天前，牧師把他妻子寫(xiě)給他的分手信交給了他?！拔也唤麑?duì)這次團(tuán)聚感到矛盾，”現(xiàn)今的斯特姆談起那張照片時(shí)說(shuō)道，“我很高興看到我的孩子們——我愛(ài)他們，如今也是，我也知道他們有過(guò)一段艱難的時(shí)光——但是有太多事要處理?！?/p>

洛麗說(shuō)：“發(fā)生了太多太多事——父親錯(cuò)過(guò)了太多的事情——讓父親重歸我們的生活并接納他成為一家之主需要花一段時(shí)間。”

洛麗的父親回來(lái)后不到一年她的父母便離婚了。她的母親于1974年再婚，并與其丈夫住在德克薩斯州。1977年，斯特姆以上校的身份從空軍退役并當(dāng)起了私人飛行員和商人。他再婚后又再度離婚。如今他72歲，也已退休，住在加州福斯特市。

至于這個(gè)家庭的其他成員，羅伯特在加州的沃爾納特克里克市當(dāng)牙醫(yī)；他和妻子育有四個(gè)孩子，年紀(jì)最大的一個(gè)是名海軍士兵。羅杰是位空軍少校，住在西雅圖市的郊區(qū)。辛迪是名服務(wù)生，與丈夫住在沃爾納特克里克市，并育有一女，正在讀大學(xué)。還有洛麗，現(xiàn)年47歲，是個(gè)行政總監(jiān)及兩個(gè)兒子的母親。她與丈夫住在加州的芒廷維尤市。在斯特姆四個(gè)孩子家中，墻上顯眼的地方都掛著一幅《迸發(fā)的喜悅》。但斯特姆說(shuō)他自己卻不敢掛這幅照片。

斯特姆一家相聚的三十年后，那一幕，曾無(wú)數(shù)次在書(shū)籍、選集以及展覽中出現(xiàn)，至今仍是美國(guó)集體記憶中的一部分，時(shí)常充當(dāng)著越戰(zhàn)的一道振奮人心的注腳。但實(shí)際上那個(gè)瞬間比我們最初想象的要憂(yōu)傷得多，這使得它尤顯凄美，同時(shí)提醒了我們：戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)中的傷亡并非只是發(fā)生在戰(zhàn)場(chǎng)上。

洛麗說(shuō)：“每每看著那張照片，我都會(huì)想起當(dāng)時(shí)那些沒(méi)能團(tuán)聚的家庭，還有當(dāng)下那些不能團(tuán)聚的家庭——太多太多家庭——我覺(jué)得，我是幸運(yùn)的一個(gè)。”