Sealed with a loving KISS: Rockers� tribute to fallen Digger
By Ben Pike / The Sunday Telegraph
I Was Made for Loving You isn�t just another KISS song to war widow Jacky Gavin � it�s the soundtrack to her life.
The song was playing when her late husband Luke proposed, during the bridal waltz at their wedding, and when his coffin was carried out of the church at his 2011 funeral.
So you can only image her shock when came face to face with the band which had brought the couple together.
�It has made the next 20 years of my life, just because I know how much the band meant to my husband,� the mother-of-three said.
�He would just be over the moon. He is a man of few words but he would have been very shocked and surprised, especially that KISS have offered to do this and that Legacy have organised it.�
He died along with two other Australian soldiers when an Afghan soldier counterpart opened fire on them in Kandahar.
The 29-year-old died seven months after his third child, Olivia, was born. Luke�s 11-year-old son, Joshua, got to meet the legendary rockers before they went on stage at AllPhones Arena in Homebush Saturday night.
Alongside his mother, Josh also presented the band with a collection of framed pictures of his father and the family.
�Josh feels pretty proud that he is representing his dad and Legacy,� Mrs Gavin, from St Clair, said.
The band�s guitarist, Paul Stanley, said they team up with the charity following on from the work they do for veterans in the US.
�Traditionally KISS assists all veterans in the US, but quite often it is the wives who are left to pick up the pieces and raise their families alone or under very difficult circumstances if their husbands return home injured,� he said.
�Knowing all about Legacy, and the amazing work they do assisting the families of Australian soldiers, we knew we would like to do something very special to celebrate and support these amazingly strong women who are moving forward with their lives.�
