Sal Veder, a photojournalist celebrated for capturing one of the most poignant images of the Vietnam War era, has died at the age of 99. His family confirmed he died peacefully in his sleep just over a week before his 100th birthday at his home in El Dorado County, California.
Veder’s iconic photograph, “Burst of Joy,” won the Pulitzer Prize and depicted Lt. Col. Robert L. Stirm’s reunion with his family after being released from a five-year imprisonment in Vietnam. Taken at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, California, on March 17, 1973, the image captured the raw emotional moment with the Stirm family rushing to embrace the returning soldier. Veder later revealed that Stirm had received a notice of divorce from his wife shortly before his release.
Throughout Veder’s career, which spanned three decades at the Associated Press from 1961 to 1993, he documented numerous significant political events and figures. Among these were Dianne Feinstein’s election as mayor of San Francisco in the wake of Mayor George Moscone’s assassination, Angela Davis’s conspiracy trial, and Patty Hearst’s arrest after her infamous bank robbery.
AP photographer Sal Veder later recalled how he captured the “Burst of Joy” image: “I saw them out of the corner of my eye, turned and started shooting. You could tell, even at a distance, what they were feeling.”
Veder’s work also spanned other historical moments. He photographed heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali, Black Panther leader Huey Newton, and notable rallies featuring activist Ralph Abernathy and singer Joan Baez. His visual storytelling highlighted key moments, such as Jesse Jackson’s appearance at the University of California, Berkeley, and the occupation of Alcatraz Island by Native American activists.