Content warning: This episode discusses veteran suicide, family and domestic violence, PTSD, and severe financial hardship. If it raises anything for you, support is available: Wounded Heroes Australia crisis line 1300 532 112 (24/7, for ADF members, veterans and their families) | Open Arms — Veterans & Families Counselling 1800 011 046 (24/7) | Lifeline 13 11 14 (24/7) | 1800RESPECT 1800 737 732 (24/7). 

When a veteran or their family rings Wounded Heroes Australia at 2am, the voice on the other end is Martin Shaw. As the charity's president since 2011, he knows how impactful the voice on the phone can be. The words he says every time are the same ones that helped his wife fall for him: "Don't worry, I’ve got you.” 

Kim Shaw heard him say those words before she ever loved him. She was focusing on work and not looking for love. When he first asked her on a date, she initially turned him down. When he tried again, she said yes and they were married within 12 months – but Wounded Heroes remained a major focus. Martin even took a crisis call on their honeymoon, but Kim never flinched. 

Theirs is a quieter kind of love story: two people who have built a marriage around holding other families together. And it’s the perfect place to begin our Acts of Service series, a new monthly limited series from The Australian Women’s Weekly Love Stories in partnership with Wounded Heroes Australia.  

In this episode, Tiffany Dunk sits down with Martin and Kim to talk about the marriage behind Australia’s only national, 24/7, non-government funded veteran crisis service. 

They explain what a $6.10 prescription, a $100 fuel voucher or a pizza delivered on Anzac Eve actually buys. Not a solution. A night. One in twenty Australian households has someone who has served. In 2023, suicide was the leading cause of death among ex-serving ADF members. Martin and Kim are two of the people who pick up when those numbers turn into a phone call. 

And Martin makes the case that sits at the heart of this whole series: everyone who signs up to defend this country does it out of love. Their whole life, as he puts it, is actually built around love. 

Moments you’ll hear: 

• The words Martin says to every veteran who rings in crisis, and why Kim calls them the most comforting thing she has ever heard. 
• “You’re a flirt, I’m not interested”: the knockback, the chase down the office stairs, and the wedding twelve months later  
• The $1,000 a soldier’s wife handed back, and the ten-year-old boy whose PTSD diagnosis changed the course of Martin’s life.   
• The night a veteran rang from a pizza shop with no wallet, no phone and no car, and what $6.10 fixed the next morning. 
• Anzac Eve in a house with no electricity, where a soldier had pawned his medals and his children had agreed to sell their PlayStation. 
• Why Martin has lent his own charity close to half a million dollars, including his own  superannuation.  
• The two times of year Wounded Heroes braces for: Christmas with New Year, and Easter with Anzac Day. 
• Martin on what love actually means here: “You don’t have to wear a uniform to be a warrior”. 

Thank you for listening ❤️ 

Before you leave... 

🗣️ Get in touch 

What did you think? We are a brand-new podcast and would love to hear from you as we build this together. Join our friendly Love Stories community and visit us at womensweekly.com.au/love-stories-podcast 

Email us your love stories (and any feedback) at awwlovestories@aremedia.com.au 

If you share your love story on social media please tag us, we’re @womensweeklymag, and use the hashtag #AWWLoveStories 

Subscribe to The Australian Women’s Weekly at magshop.com.au/LOVESTORIES 👈🏽 

Sending thanks to our partners at Wounded Heroes. 

You can help Wounded Heroes deliver emergency assistance to current Australian Defence Force members, veterans and their families by donating at: www.woundedheroes.org.au/actsofservice 

Need help now? Wounded Heroes crisis line 1300 532 112, 24/7, Australia wide. 

Credits 

Host: Tiffany Dunk 

Edited by Leah Porges

Production by Leah Porges 

Our wonderful The Australian Women’s Weekly team 

Our Head of Vodcasting is Rachel Fountain 

Learn More: The Australian Women’s Weekly website