Legendary glam rock band KISS has shown its support for the US military in a big way, raising US$1m (€771,000, £612,000) to part-fund a refurbishment of the Oregon Military Museum.

The group raised the funds by playing a rare acoustic show and auctioning off one of frontman Paul Stanley’s guitars for US$20,000 (€16,000, £12,000). Tickets for the event ran at US$2,500 (€1,940, £1,534) per person.

KISS guitarist and native to Oregon, Tommy Thayer, has been heavily involved with the renovation project, but the Oregon Historical Outreach Foundation is looking for a further US$13m (€10m, £7.9m) for a full renovation of the museum.

Since 2009, the museum has been closed to the public and has had its contents and artefacts stored in the nearby Clackamas Armoury. The renovation plans include transforming the facility into a high-quality visitor attraction by quadrupling space for education, administrative and research functions, while also installing a new weapons vault for display. Additional plans include a “Historic Area” to surround the museum, comprising an outdoor park with larger weapons, a Word War II quonset hut and areas for interchangeable outdoor exhibits.

Following KISS’s involvement in the project, the museum will be renamed after Thayer’s father, Brigadier General James B. Thayer – a World War II hero who helped to liberate a Nazi death camp in 1945.