Family Of Marine Killed In Kabul Forced To Pay To Fly Body To Bury Her
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Nicole Gee was one of the service members that was killed in the suicide blast at Kabul Airport in 2021.
Her family had to pay $60,000 to move her body from California to Arlington.
Thankfully, a non-profit stepped up to cover the cost.
The family of a Marine who was killed during the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 had to pay $60,000 to fly her body from California to Arlington to bury her.
Nicole Gee, 23, was one of 13 service members who died in a suicide blast at Kabul Airport in 2021 alongside 170 desperate Afghans seeking to leave the beleaguered country.
The terror attack, which ISIS claimed responsibility for, occurred in the early morning hours of August 26, during the frenzied evacuation near the US embassy.
Rep. Cory Mills said that this was made possible by an amendment in last year’s National Defense Authorization Act.
Mills blasted what happened saying, “It is an egregious injustice that grieving families were burdened to shoulder the financial strain of honoring their loved ones. This is an unacceptable situation that demands immediate rectification.”
According to Mills’ office, the option for the Defense Department to decline to pay for transport of the body was made possible by an amendment to last year’s National Defense Authorization Act, which states that the secretary of Defense may provide a fallen service member’s next of kin “a commercial air travel use waiver for the transportation of deceased remains of [a] military member who dies inside a theater of combat operations.”
Gee’s remains were initially flown to her hometown of Roseville, California, for a ceremony, but the responsibility for transporting Gee to her final resting place at Arlington National Cemetery would fall on the family. Honoring Our Fallen, a nonprofit dedicated to assisting the families of fallen American service members, stepped up to help the family move Gee via private jet to Virginia.
But Mills says the responsibility should fall on the Defense Department and not burden the families of fallen heroes.
“Typically, our fallen heroes are flown back home for a solemn service and then laid to a final rest at Arlington Cemetery with the utmost respect and honor,” Mills said. “It is an egregious injustice that grieving families were burdened to shoulder the financial strain of honoring their loved ones. This is an unacceptable situation that demands immediate rectification.”
This policy needs to be changed!
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