Baby joy for Grace Fitzgibbon in wake of brother Jack’s tragic death

When Jack Fitzgibbon tragically died in a special forces parachuting accident, his younger sister Grace felt an immediate need to have her brother’s best mate by her side. Now they’re welcoming a baby.

Grace Fitzgibbon finds love with late brother's best friend.

Lance Corporal Jack Fitzgibbon’s death stung hard, a tragedy felt across Australia.

An elite soldier, taken while training to defend his country, to protect us. His dad, Joel Fitzgibbon, a former defence minister, proud that his son chose to serve.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was among hundreds who mourned at Jack’s funeral. So too, were then Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and Minister for Defence Richard Marles.

But from the pain and the tears something beautiful has happened.

Grace Fitzgibbon with her late brother Jack. Picture: Instagram

When Jack, 33, died on March 6 last year after a special forces parachuting accident, his younger sister Grace felt an immediate need to have her brother’s best mate by her side.

She wasn’t that close with Jack’s mate Aaron, but in the weeks following Jack’s shock death, they became a shoulder to cry on for each other, a person to seek support in. And, from shared despair, love quickly bloomed. Now – just under 18 months later – the pair are expecting their first baby together.

Grace Fitzgibbon and her partner Aaron who have announced they are having a baby together. Picture: Supplied.

Grace Fitzgibbon and her partner Aaron who have announced they are having a baby together. Picture: Supplied

Grace, a reporter for Channel 7, said their baby girl was “heaven sent” and knows her big brother is looking down at her and his best mate with a “huge smile” across his face.

“I think that he’d be up there laughing and scratching his head a little bit,” she told the Sunday Telegraph.

“He did say to me that he thought all of my ex-boyfriends were quite soft, so I think he’d be saying, it’s about time you got a good one.

“But he’d be so proud of us and so proud of our baby girl on the way, part of us feels that she is a special gift sent from him.”

While their relationship was born out of grief, Grace said having Aaron by her side made it feel like her brother was still here, and a very big part of her life.

“We talk about Jack every day, all the time, we’re just talking about Jack,” she said.

“We’re playing his favourite music. We’re laughing about the things he used to do. It’s been so helpful for us in our grief, and I think it’s made the whole process just that little bit easier to have each other’s shoulders to lean on.”

Grace Fitzgibbons with brother Jack and best mate Aaron. Picture: Supplied

The couple first met in 2020, when Jack invited Aaron to spend Christmas with the Fitzgibbons in the Hunter. He often brought a mate home – and this year, Aaron was the lucky one.

Grace admits she didn’t feel any initial attraction toward Aaron, lumping him in the “military boy” pile.

“I don’t think he really struck my fancy,” she laughed.

“I often sort of put army boys in a bit of a category where I thought that would be wild and dangerous, so I never really had an eye for military men.”

But that changed under tragic circumstances on March 6 last year. The Fitzgibbon family were informed Jack, a member of the elite 2nd Commando Regiment, had been critically injured about 6.30pm when his parachute failed to deploy during a routine Special Forces training exercise at the Richmond RAAF in Sydney’s west.

He was rushed to Westmead hospital, but could not be saved.

Official portrait of Lance Corporal Jack Fitzgibbon. Picture: Defence Imagery

Those memories of Jack’s final moments are forever stuck in Grace’s mind, as well as the overwhelming feeling she needed to call Aaron.

“I knew that he needed to know, so I was actually scrambling to get Aaron’s mobile number, because I was only his social media friend,” she said.

“So eventually I got a hold of him, and he came straight to the hospital.

“I just remember having such a sense of relief when he walked in, because I just knew, for some reason, that everything was going to be okay.”

As Grace processed out of the church following Jack’s funeral two weeks later, Aaron walked ahead with Jack’s casket on his shoulder.

“Our family was really keen on having his involvement in the funeral, because he did have that extra and inside knowledge of Jack that maybe his family didn’t know,” she said.

“For example, you know, there was a suggestion we would dress Jack in his military uniform for the funeral, and the first thing Aaron said was, ‘Oh, absolutely not. He’d want to be in his comfy clothes’.”

From that day, he never really left the Fitzgibbon family, with his relationship with Grace becoming romantic within a month.

And just after their one-year-anniversary, their titles quickly changed from “partners” to “parents” – with their little girl due this Christmas.

Grace Fitzgibbon and her partner Aaron have announced they are having a baby together. Picture: Supplied

The news of their pregnancy has brought not only Grace a sense of joy, but her mum and dad Joel Fitzgibbon – former defence minister and Member for Hunter, who served 26 years in federal parliament – a new sense of purpose.

However it’s still marked with a sense of sadness, and the sobering realisation that the little girl will never meet her “legend” Uncle Jack.

“I think with grief, obviously comes a lot of sadness, and so even in the happy moments in our family, there’s always that underlying theme of sadness for us,” she said.

“When I told my family we were all together, and they were very emotional and over the moon, because I think most parents know it’s the greatest gift, and so they were just so grateful and happy and happy to have a little their first baby granddaughter on the way.”

Originally published as Baby joy for Grace Fitzgibbon in wake of brother Jack’s tragic death