Provenance

Mary and Dan Solomon, Monarch Beach, CA; gift to NGA, 2018.

Associated Names

Inscriptions

on verso, upper left stamped in purple ink on applied newspaper: 2 AUG 7 1978 S; upper center printed in black ink on applied newspaper: Col. Laird Guttersen walked into his family's arms in 1973 / They were our only heroes from the / Vietnam War, the only U.S. soldiers who / were welcomed home with the usual / American-style outpouring of tears and / love and praise. / For years they had been pawns in the / seemingly endless game of strategic / politics the war had become. Back home / they were living martyrs, symbols of the / waste and senseless suffering produced by / America's most unpopular war.; upper center Associated Press copyright stamp in red ink inverted; by unknown hand, upper right in red ink perpendicular: Vietnam - U.S. Prisoners - Freed - 1978 [crossed out in blue ink]; center right in grease pencil perpendicular: 1st MON [star] FREE Pix / 4 5/6 x 6 1/4; lower center printed in black ink on applied paper inverted: Colonel Laird Guttersen, Air Force hugs Virginia [crossed out in black ink] / wife Virginia at March AFB in Riverside California. / Waiting [by unknown hand in blue ink: for] him after more than five years are [by unknown hand in blue ink: daughter] Cayci, then / 12, son Alan, 26, and son Bam, 9, who is jumping / for joy. / It was the start of a "hellish year" / for all of them [by unknown hand in black ink: recalls Mrs. Guttersen] / [by unknown hand in black ink: A.P.] photo by George Brich [underlined in black ink]; by unknown hand, lower right in blue ink perpendicular: 1973; bottom center on applied paper inverted: (3 days after leaving prison)