Marine Corps FOIA docs on Sgt. Nicole Gee transfer and burial

Phone calls—and donations—poured in last month at a nonprofit that helped the family of a slain Marine transport her remains after a since-discredited Fox News story prompted questions and outrage, show records the Marine Corps released under the Freedom of Information Act.

Sgt. Nicole Gee, a 23-year-old Marine, was among the 13 Americans that a suicide bombing at Kabul airport’s Abbey Gate killed two years ago during the chaotic evacuation of noncombatants in the harrowing last days of the United States’ 20-year war in Afghanistan. Her remains were to be transported to her hometown of Roseville, California, then on to Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, say records the Marine Corps disclosed under the FOIA.

But late last month, Fox News reported that Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., had met with Gee’s family and heard they’d needed help from the nonprofit Honoring Our Fallen to transport her remains from California to her final resting place after the Pentagon allegedly refused to foot a $60,000 bill.

“Dozens of calls are flooding in!” wrote Laura Herzog, founder and chief executive of the charity, a few hours after the story broke, in an email responding to a Marine Corps inquiry about the matter. “I have only answered one call and said no we do not wish to comment due to the sensitivity of the information.”

Meanwhile, Rep. Kevin Kiley, who represents Roseville in Congress, wrote to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin seeking an explanation. That the family had to seek outside help to pay for moving her remains “fails to live up to the expectations Americans have for how their fallen warriors and families will be treated,” he wrote.

Then the Pentagon quickly pushed back on the Fox story. So did Gee’s family.

The military did not tell the family it would not pay the cost to transport Gee from California to Arlington, Christy Shamblin, Gee’s mother-in-law, told Task & Purpose.

“That never happened,” Shamblin said.

She didn’t think the family ever even asked the military to pay for the costs, she said. The family had been working with the nonprofit when the charity found out that it would cost $60,000 to fly her from Sacramento to the cemetery, so it flew her in a private plane.

“I think that we got the information that that’s how much it was going to cost, and the private nonprofit just stepped in and took over from there,” Shamblin told Task & Purpose. “I’m not even sure that it went to the point where they said, ‘No.’ … We just never got to that point.”

An officer with the casualty section of Headquarters Marine Corps had reached out to Herzog in response to congressional inquiries before the original story broke, records show. An official also shared with Herzog for situational awareness, or “SA,” a statement the Marine Corps was preparing to release disputing the Fox story as inaccurate.

The statement explains that when remains are transported to two places, federal law allows the secretary concerned to pay for transportation to the second location only through reimbursement. It says that commercial transportation from California to Virginia would have been reimbursable through the contracted funeral home, and that the individual designated to make decisions for the disposition of Gee’s remains (“PADD” in military acronym-speak) knew it would be covered, but chose to use the private air transport offered through Honoring Our Fallen.

Herzog told Task & Purpose that she had secured a flight in a private aircraft as an in-kind donation so Gee’s remains would not have to go on a commercial airline. Neither the charity nor the family paid costs or exchanged monies for the services.

“This was a donation made by a veteran who donated this service,” she said.” to us to assist us in honoring Sgt. Gee. “We are proud of our support to Sgt. Gee and her family. It takes a village and I am proud of our communities that came together to honor and support her sacrifice.”

Gee was laid to rest with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery on September 29, 2021. Her husband, Jarod Gee, received the U.S. flag from her service.

“I have dedicated my life to supporting Casualty Missions and I would like to continue communication regarding how to move forward with this situation,” she wrote in an email after the Fox News story broke.

Later, Herzog told the Marine Corps, for “SA,” that many new donors had made donations through the nonprofit’s website, to whom she wanted to provide her statement.

“We will be sending the personal statement along with a note with refund option to all whom have donated to Honoring Our Fallen since the story broke,” Herzog said.

Fox appears to have removed the report from its website. Mills released a statement suggesting the grieving family was confused about the transportation issue and calling for military to be more proactive in dealing with the parents of fallen service members.

“Regardless of who covered the costs in this instance, there should never be a situation where the DoD does not proactively make clear to the families their willingness to cover transportation for service members who have sacrificed their lives for our country,” Mills’ statement said. “No fallen service member’s family should ever have to question whether transportation will be paid for or if they will have to pay and be reimbursed at a later date.”

Here’s the full FOIA production, with information the Marine Corps withheld under Exemption 6 because it would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of privacy without sufficient public interest to justify its disclosure.

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