Mills decries family being told to pay relocation of fallen Marine’s body

WASHINGTON, D.C. (FLV) – The family of Sgt. Nicole L. Gee, who was one of 13 soldiers killed during the U.S. withdrawal in Afghanistan, were reportedly told they’d need to pay for the Marine’s body to be moved to her final resting place.

Details surfaced when Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., was “enraged” after being notified during a meeting with family members of the “Fallen 13” that the Department of Defense shifted the financial responsibility onto Gee’s next of kin.

The Gold Star Family thus was pinned into securing and paying thousands of dollars for her relocation.

“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.”

According to Mills’ office, the rule by the Department of Defense to decline funding was made possible under the National Defense Authorization Act, per Fox News.

It cited that the secretary of defense “may” provide a fallen service member’s family “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 body was first flown to California for a ceremony; however, her final destination and further funding to Arlington National Cemetery was placed on her family to deal with.

Honoring Our Fallen, a nonprofit organization committed to helping fallen service members, eventually picked up the tab upwards of $60,000 dollars to have Gee’s remains flown by private jet from California to Virginia.