
“COLONEL Robert L. Stirm was a US airforce pilot who was taken prisoner by the North Vietnamese communists in 1967. He was held captive and tortured for over five years until his release in 1973. His reunion with his family is the subject of the Pulitzer Prize-winning photo Burst of Joy, which you see [above]. Odd, then, that I have highlighted the face of his wife, Loretta.
“While this reunion should have been a moment of unbridled joy, it was not for Colonel Stirm, who had received a letter from his wife three days prior, informing him that she wanted a divorce. Within a year of his capture, Loretta began a series of affairs. Within days of the Colonel’s return to US soil, she took his two youngest children, his house, car and 40% of his future pension for life. The Colonel challenged this in court, but lost. He had to go live with his mother and provide for his two older children.
“I think this story deserves to be constantly retold as a case study in human betrayal and an early example of how the court system in the US and wider West treats men like dirt – even heroes who have fought and suffered for their country.”
— Way of the World (more…)