Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - November 21, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2025 B4 ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM NEWS I WORLD Freed POW seen in iconic ‘Burst of Joy’ photo with family IT’S the ultimate homecoming photo — a smiling family rushing to reunite with a U.S. Air Force officer in 1973 who spent years as a POW in North Vietnam, his oldest daughter sprinting ahead with her arms outstretched, both feet off the ground. “Burst of Joy,” the iconic black-and- white image capturing the Stirm family at Travis Air Force Base in California, was published in newspapers through- out the nation. Taken by Associated Press photographer Sal Veder, it won a Pulitzer Prize and has continued to resonate through the years, a symbol of the end of U.S. involvement in the Viet- nam War. On Veterans Day, retired Col. Rob- ert Stirm, seen in the photo in uniform with his back to the camera, died at an assisted living facility in Fairfield, California, his daughter, Lorrie Stirm Kitching, confirmed Thursday. He was 92. “It’s right in my front foyer,” Kitch- ing, 68, of Mountain View, said of the photo. She was 15 when that moment of her running to hug her father was for- ever preserved. “Just the feelings of that and the in- tensity of the feeling will never leave me,” Kitching told the AP in an inter- view. “It is so deep in my heart, and the joy and the relief that we had our dad back again. It was just truly a very moving reunion for our family, and that feeling has never left me. It’s the same feeling every time I see that picture. “And every day, how grateful I am that my father was one of the lucky ones and returned home,” she added. “That was really a gift.” Stirm, a decorated pilot, was serving with the 333rd Tactical Fighter Squad- ron at Takhli Royal Thai Air Force in Thailand in 1967. During a bombing mission over North Vietnam that Oct. 27, his F-105 Thunderbird was hit and he was shot three times while parachut- ing. He was captured immediately upon landing. He was held captive for 1,966 days in five different POW camps in Hanoi and North Vietnam, including the notori- ous “Hanoi Hilton,” known for tortur- ing and starving its captives, primar- ily American pilots shot down during bombing raids. Its most famous prison- er was the late U.S. Sen. John McCain, who also was shot down in 1967. McCain and Stirm had known each other. They shared a wall in soli- tary confinement and communicated through a tapping code. “John McCain tapped in this joke. First time Dad laughed in jail,” Kitch- ing said. “I just wish I knew what that joke was,” she said. “I’m sure it was something very ribald.” Stirm, who was 39 when the photo was taken, told the AP 20 years later that he had several copies of it, but didn’t dis- play it in his house. He had been hand- ed a “Dear John” letter from his wife, Loretta, by a chaplain upon his release. “I have changed drastically — forced into a situation where I finally had to grow up,” the letter read in part. “Bob, I feel sure that in your heart you know we can’t make it together — and it doesn’t make sense to be unhappy when you can do something about it. Life is too short.” Stirm said the photo “brought a lot of notoriety and publicity to me and, unfortunately, the legal situation that I was going to be faced with, and it was kind of unwelcomed.” The couple divorced a year after Stirm returned from Vietnam and both remarried within six months. They came together for weddings and other family events. Loretta Adams died in 2010, of cancer. She was 74. “It hurt really deeply,” Kitching said. “She told him she wanted to make the marriage work. But she was being up front and honest. So every story has two sides, and I know very well just how difficult it is to understand the two sides.” Stirm retired from the Air Force in 1977 after 25 years of service. He joined Ferry Steel Products, a business his grandfather started in San Francis- co. He also had worked as a corporate pilot. — The Associated Press KATHY MCCORMACK SAL VEDER / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES Robert Stirm is greeted by his family at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, Calif., as he returns home from the Vietnam War, March 17, 1973. ROBERT STIRM OBITUARY Draft of peace proposal obtained by Associated Press appears to heavily favour Russia Trump plan to end Ukraine war cedes territory, limits military W ASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s plan for ending the war in Ukraine would cede land to Russia and limit the size of Kyiv’s military, according to a draft obtained Thursday by The Associated Press. The proposal, originating from ne- gotiations between Washington and Moscow, appeared decidedly favour- able to Russia, which started the war nearly four years ago by invading its neighbour. If past is prologue, it would seem untenable for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has opposed Trump’s previous calls for territorial concessions. There has also been resistance from European leaders, who are like- ly to decry the U.S. peace push as re- warding Russian President Vladimir Putin for his aggression, leaving him emboldened rather than defeated. For example, the proposal would not only bar Ukraine from joining NATO, but would also prevent the alliance’s future expansion. Such a step would be a significant victory for Moscow, which views NATO as a threat. Putin would also gain ground he has been unable to win on the battle- field. Under the draft, Moscow would hold all the eastern Donbas region, even though approximately 14 per cent still remains in Ukrainian hands. Ukraine’s military, currently at roughly 880,000 troops, would be reduced to 600,000. The proposal opens the door to lifting sanctions on Russia and re- turning it to what was formerly known as the Group of Eight, which includes many of the world’s biggest economies. Russia was suspended from the annual gathering in 2014 following its annexation of Crimea, a strategically important peninsula on the northern coast of the Black Sea that is internationally recognized as part of Ukraine. The U.S. team began drawing up the plan soon after U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff held talks with Rustem Umerov, a top adviser to Zelenskyy, according to a senior administration official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity. The official added that Umerov agreed to the ma- jority of the plan, after making sever- al modifications, and then presented it to Zelenskyy. U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll was also in Kyiv on Thursday and discussed the latest draft with Zelen- skyy, according to a senior adminis- tration official. Zelenskyy offered a measured statement on social media about it, but did not directly speak to the substance of the proposal. “Our teams — of Ukraine and the United States — will work on the pro- visions of the plan to end the war. We are ready for constructive, honest and swift work,” he wrote. Meanwhile, Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, has in- formed the White House he’ll leave his post in January, according to two senior administration officials. Kellogg was initially named spe- cial envoy for Ukraine and Russia during Trump’s presidential transi- tion. But his role shrunk as Witkoff, a real estate developer turned diplo- mat, emerged as the president’s chief interlocutor with Putin and his advis- ers. Under the proposal, Russia would commit to making no future attacks, something the White House views as a concession. In addition, $100 billion in frozen Russian assets would be dedicated to rebuilding Ukraine. However, handing over territory to Russia would be deeply unpopular in Ukraine. It also would be illegal under Ukraine’s constitution. Zelen- skyy has repeatedly ruled out such a possibility. Russia would also be allowed to keep half of the power generated by Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, Zaporizhzhia, which it captured from Ukraine early during the war. The draft calls for a “Peace Council” that Trump will oversee. The council is an idea that Trump snatched from his lengthy peace plan aimed at bringing about a permanent end to war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. If either Ukraine or Russia violated the truce once enacted, it would face sanctions. U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., an Air Force veteran, rejected the emer- ging plan. “Unacceptable,” he posted on social media. “It is a 1938 Mun- ich,” referring to a diplomatic agree- ment aimed at securing peace with Nazi Germany, but widely viewed as paving the way for the Second World War. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Witkoff have been quietly working on the peace plan for a month, receiving input from both Ukrainians and Rus- sians on terms that are acceptable to each side, White House press secre- tary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday. Witkoff and Kirill Dmitriev, a close adviser to Putin, have been key to drafting the proposal. As reports about the draft emerged, blindsided European diplomats in- sisted they and Ukraine must be con- sulted. European leaders have already been alarmed this year by indications that Trump’s administration might be sidelining them and Zelenskyy in its push to stop the fighting. Trump’s at-times conciliatory approach to Pu- tin has fuelled those concerns, but Trump adopted a tougher line last month when he announced heavy sanctions on Russia’s vital oil sector that come into force Friday. “For any plan to work, it needs Ukrainians and Europeans on board,” European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said at the start of a meeting in Brussels of the 27-nation bloc’s foreign ministers. She also sug- gested that the draft would be too fa- vourable toward Moscow. “We haven’t heard of any conces- sions on the Russian side,” Kallas said. German Foreign Minister Johan- nes Wadephul said he talked by phone Thursday with Witkoff and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan to discuss “our various current efforts to end Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, and thus finally put an end to the immeasurable human suffering.” Ukraine’s deputy UN Ambassador Khrystyna Hayovyshyn told the UN Security Council that Kyiv has offi- cially received Trump’s draft peace plan and is ready “to work construct- ively,” but she stressed Ukraine’s “red lines.” “There will never be any recogni- tion, formal or otherwise, of Ukrain- ian territory temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation as Russian,” she said. “Our land is not for sale.” “Ukraine will not accept any limits on its right to self-defence or on the size and capabilities of our armed forces, nor will we tolerate any in- fringement on our sovereignty, in- cluding our sovereign right to choose the alliances we want to join,” Hay- ovyshyn added. It was not clear whether European foreign ministers had seen the peace plan, which was first reported by Axios. Although they appeared caught by surprise, some elements of the plan were not new. Trump said last month that the Donbas region should be “cut up,” leaving most of it in Russian hands. However, the administration’s pre- vious diplomatic efforts this year to stop the fighting have so far come to nothing. A summit between Trump and Putin in Alaska did not result in a breakthrough over the summer, and plans for them to meet again in Budapest, Hungary, did not come to fruition. Trump frequently complained that the negotiations involving Ukraine were taking longer than other con- flicts where he helped mediate. “I thought that was going to be my easy one because I have a good relationship with President Putin,” he said this week. “But I’m a little disappointed in President Putin right now.” — The Associated Press ILLIA NOVIKOV, AAMER MADHANI AND CHRIS MEGERIAN UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS OFFICE VIA AP Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (left) shakes hands with U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday. Israel plans to seize parts of historic site in West Bank, document says JERUSALEM — Israel plans to seize parts of a major West Bank historic site, according to a government docu- ment, and settlers put up a new outpost overnight, even as the country faces pressure to crack down on settler vio- lence in the Palestinian territory. Israel’s Civil Administration an- nounced its intention to expropriate large swaths of Sebastia, a major ar- chaeological site in the West Bank, in the document obtained by The Associ- ated Press, on Thursday. Peace Now, an anti-settlement watchdog group, said the site is around 1,800 dunams (450 acres) — Israel’s largest seizure of ar- cheologically important land. The move came as Israeli settlers celebrated the creation of a new, un- authorized settlement near Bethlehem, and a Palestinian lawyer said a West Bank activist has been detained and hospitalized. The Israeli order released Nov. 12 lists parcels of land it intends to seize in the Sebastia area. Peace Now, which provided the document to AP, said the popular archeological site, where thou- sands of olive trees grow, belongs to the Palestinians. The capital of the ancient Israelite kingdom Samaria is thought to be be- neath the ruins of Sebastia, and Chris- tians and Muslims believe it’s where John the Baptist was buried. Israel announced plans to develop the site into a tourist attraction in 2023. Ex- cavations have already begun and the government has allocated more than 30 million shekels (US$9.24 million) to de- velop the site, according to Peace Now and another rights group. The order gives Palestinians 14 days to object to the declaration. Israeli settlers said they established a new unauthorized outpost close to Bethlehem. The chairman of the local Etzion settler council, Yaron Rosenthal, welcomed the settlement as a “return to the city of our matriarch Rachel, of King David.” Rosenthal said the new community would “strengthen the con- nection” between Etzion and Jerusa- lem. The new outpost could be a response to the latest Palestinian attack on Is- raelis in the West Bank. It’s close to the busy junction where on Tuesday Pales- tinian attackers stabbed one Israeli to death and wounded three more. Rosenthal demanded that Israel re- spond forcefully and better support the settlements. “Terrorism is fuelled by the hope of a state,” he said, connecting the violence to the Palestinian Author- ity and a renewed push to advance ef- forts to secure Palestinian statehood. Hamas did not claim responsibility for the attack, but in a statement called it “a normal response to the occupa- tion’s attempts to liquidate the Palestin- ian cause,” vowing that Israeli aggres- sion wouldn’t go unchallenged. Hagit Ofran, the director of Peace Now’s settlement watch program, said the outpost is on land that used to be an Israeli military base. Photos that settlers shared online show tempor- ary homes at the site and bulldozers at work. Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza — areas claimed by the Palestinians for a future state — in the 1967 war. It has settled over 500,000 Jews in the West Bank, largely on unauthorized settlements, in addi- tion to over 200,000 more in contested east Jerusalem. — The Associated Press ;