Why did California family have to pay to move fallen Marine’s remains? Congressman blasts Pentagon

In 2021, the $60,000 price tag for transporting the remains of fallen U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Nicole Gee reportedly nearly fell on the shoulders of her family, according to a letter sent Wednesday to the Pentagon.

In it, Rep. Kevin Kiley, who represents Roseville in Congress, asked Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to explain “how this apparent travesty could occur.”

“Reports that Sgt. Gee’s family was forced to seek outside help to pay for the transport of her remains fails to live up to the expectations Americans have for how their fallen warriors and families will be treated,” he said in the letter.

Gee, along with 12 other U.S. service members, was killed Aug. 27, 2021, when a suicide bomber attacked the Kabul airport as U.S. forces were withdrawing from war-torn Afghanistan.

In a message Wednesday to The Sacramento Bee, Christy Shamblin, Gee’s mother-in-law, said the family was fortunate to have the help of Honoring Our Fallen, a nonprofit organization, which found a private pilot who donated the transport, sparing them the hefty price tag.

“Not every family was so fortunate,” she said.

A Pentagon official said that, as of Wednesday, there was “no record of any incurred charges or any pending requests for reimbursement associated with the transportation of Sgt. Gee’s remains to Arlington National Cemetery.”

The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that “Marine Corps casualty assistance officers were in direct communication with Sgt. Gee’s family, and they remain in contact today.” The official told McClatchyDC, The Bee’s Washington bureau, that “the Marine Corps stayed consistent with its policy that all costs associated with internment be borne by the government.”

“The Marine Corps takes very seriously the transfer of remains of our Marines,” the official said, “they never leave a Marine behind, and they care for the families of their fallen Marines.”

Shamblin and others visited the U.S. Capitol last week to raise awareness of the issue, she said.

Family members of the “Fallen 13,” referring to service members who were killed in Kabul, met with Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., during the visit, per a post to his Instagram.

Mills’ office told Fox News Digital that he learned Gee’s family took on the burden during a meeting last week. His office further told Fox that the option for the Department of Defense to decline to pay for transport of her remains was allowed via an amendment to last year’s National Defense Authorization Act.

“At no time should our Gold Star families be financially responsible for burying their loved ones and American heroes,” Mills, an Army veteran, wrote on social media promoting a link to the Fox story.

Mills’ spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

After her death, Kiley’s letter said, the Department of Defense originally paid for Gee’s remains to be transported to her family in Roseville, where a local funeral was held for her. However, the department later “declined to cover the cost of transportation to her final resting place in Arlington National Cemetery.”

“Gold Star families have given too much to be treated so poorly,” the Rocklin Republican wrote.