A Republican congressman from Florida has walked again his declare that the Protection Division “positioned a heavy monetary burden” on the household of a Marine killed in a suicide bombing in the course of the chaotic U.S. army withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Rep. Cory Mills, an Army veteran, informed Fox News on Tuesday that after assembly with the households of 13 U.S. service members killed on Aug. 26, 2021, at Hamid Karzai Worldwide Airport’s Abbey Gate, he discovered that the household of Marine Sgt. Nicole Gee was caught with a $60,000 invoice from the Pentagon to move her stays to Arlington Nationwide Cemetery.
However Gee’s household stated they weren’t billed by the Pentagon in any respect. Because the article was revealed, Mills issued a press release saying the household was confused in its grief, and Fox News edited its headline and story with out noting a correction. On Friday, it appeared the article had been eliminated totally.
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“We didn’t should pay any invoice and by no means had a invoice introduced,” Christy Shamblin, Gee’s mother-in-law, informed Navy.com on Friday through social media.
Honoring Our Fallen, a nonprofit that helps households of deceased service members — to incorporate assist in the course of the switch of dignified stays, paid for Gee’s stays to be transported by non-public flight from California to Arlington Nationwide Cemetery.
Gee, 23, deployed to help within the evacuation and withdrawal of Afghanistan within the late summer season of 2021. There, a suicide bomb assault killed a Navy corpsman, a soldier and 11 Marines, together with Gee.
A few week earlier than her demise, the Division of Protection launched an image of Gee holding a child in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. She posted the image on her Instagram with the caption: “I like my job.”
A day after the Fox story was revealed, Activity & Objective reached out to Shamblin, the Pentagon and Honoring Our Fallen. All three denied that the household was caught with a invoice or that that they had requested the Pentagon pay for transportation to Arlington.
The Pentagon stated it had no report of any costs.
“I reached out to Mills early yesterday to ensure I might make clear and set the small print
straight,” Shamblin informed Navy.com “I’m actually very sorry, and Congressman Mills has been very supportive and useful.”
On Thursday, the day Shamblin stated she reached out to the congressman, Mills launched a press release acknowledging the response.
“I perceive the household of Sgt. Nicole Gee was, of their time of grief, confused relating to transportation proceedings,” his assertion learn, partly. “I’m grateful that Honoring Our Fallen was capable of help the household and that the DoD was capable of present clarification on this matter.”
Gee’s stays had been transported from Afghanistan to the U.S. in August 2021 by the federal government, and a memorial was held in her house state of California. Gee was then to be interred at Arlington Nationwide Cemetery, however the course of for transporting her stays throughout the nation was unclear to the household on the time, in line with Shamblin.
If a household desires a service member’s stays transported to a different resting place, like Arlington, they’d pay for that transportation up entrance, in line with the DoD. The army would then reimburse the household for these bills.
Mills addressed the coverage in his response, saying that “no fallen servicemember’s household ought to ever should query whether or not transportation will likely be paid for or in the event that they must pay and be reimbursed at a later date.”
The main points of that coverage would show moot, nevertheless.
Based on Shamblin, Honoring Our Fallen stepped in earlier than the transportation or reimbursement course of started. The group paid for a personal flight for Gee’s stays.
“No monies had been exchanged or anticipated to be paid by our group or the household,” Laura Herzog, CEO of Honoring Our Fallen, informed Activity & Objective on Wednesday, including that the price of the non-public flight was paid by a veteran who donated the unspecified funds in Gee’s honor.
The Marine Corps stayed per the coverage that each one prices related to interment be borne by the federal government, a Pentagon spokesperson stated this week.
“Right now, we have now no report of any incurred costs or any pending requests for reimbursement related to the transportation of Sgt. Gee’s stays to Arlington Nationwide Cemetery,” the spokesperson stated within the launched assertion. “The Marine Corps takes very severely the switch of stays of our Marines — they by no means depart a Marine behind, and so they look after the households of their fallen Marines.”
Shamblin informed Navy.com that the Marine Corps “has all the time been, and I anticipate will all the time be, very supportive,” including that the service reaches out typically and is conscious of the household.
“On the time, I simply understood we might be answerable for the price of her transportation to Arlington,” she informed Navy.com. “I now perceive there’s a reimbursement course of for this.”
The unique Fox News story unfold on social media and was used to lambaste the DoD for its obvious callousness and blame the Biden administration for its dealing with of the tumultuous withdrawal from Afghanistan — and its tragic aftereffects. The story’s central declare was repeated by different retailers just like the Every day Mail.
The Fox News story was headlined, “Household compelled to pay to ship physique of Marine killed after Pentagon coverage change: ‘Egregious injustice,'” earlier than it was muted with softer language.
Earlier than the piece was apparently deleted, the primary paragraph of the article was modified from saying that Mills was “sounding the alarm” about Gee’s household being “compelled to pay to maneuver the physique of their cherished one” to learn that the household secured funding from Honoring Our Fallen and that Mills was involved that they had bother “navigating” the DoD course of.
Shamblin informed Navy.com she reached out to the Fox News reporter and “requested for his or her assist ensuring the small print had been clarified.”
Media relations representatives for Fox News didn’t reply to Navy.com’s repeated requests for remark asking why the article was modified with out an editor’s be aware after publication, and why it’s unavailable on-line now. As a part of journalism greatest practices, tales which might be modified or corrected after publication are up to date with an editor’s be aware explaining the choice.
“On the time, I used to be simply grateful for Honoring Our Fallen stepping up with a donor keen to assist,” Shamblin stated. “I hope sooner or later the method of getting your beloved to Arlington after their hometown is with none upfront prices to the household.”
— Drew F. Lawrence might be reached at drew.lawrence@army.com. Observe him on Twitter @df_lawrence.
