Fallen Marine Laid to Rest
Sep 24, 2021 12:00AM ● By Thomas J. Sullivan
Two SMUD representants stand holding images of the fallen marine honoring "Nicole Gee for her great sacrifice." Photo by Thomas J. Sullivan
Exceptionally large public turnout for the procession
SACRAMENTO REGION, CA (MPG) - Young families, school children and veterans lined much of Greenback Lane from Sunrise to Fair Oaks Boulevard on Thursday, Sept. 16, many holding U.S. and Marine Corps flags, as they paused to honor and remember fallen Marine Sgt. Nicole L. Gee, 23, of Sacramento, who was brought home and laid to rest at the Mount Vernon Memorial Park and Mortuary in Fair Oaks.
The Citrus Heights Police Department had encouraged the public to gather at the south end of Greenback Lane at the Sunrise Mall parking lot to show support as the public procession passed. The exceptionally large public turnout for the procession soon slowed traffic along Greenback Lane for more than an hour.
The procession, led by a motorcycle escort of the American Legion Patriot Guard, passed slowly under a large American flag which was arched over Greenback Lane by two Metro Fire ladder trucks, their crews saluting, before then turning into the memorial park.
Sgt. Gee along with 10 additional Marines, one Navy corpsman and one soldier were killed August 26, the result of an enemy attack while supporting evacuation operations outside the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. At least 169 Afghans were also killed in the bombing, as they struggled to get into the airport and on flights out of the country.
The young Marine’s death hit home in Placer County, where she grew up and graduated from Oakmont High School before enlisting in 2017. Just days before her death, Sgt. Gee was one of several Marines seen cradling and comforting Afghan children prior to their evacuation from the country.
On August 21, Gee posted a photo of herself holding an Afghan child on Instagram. “I love my job,” she wrote.
Gee, a maintenance technician with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, was sworn into the Marines less than a year ago and was promoted to sergeant three weeks before the Kabul attack, according to posts on her Instagram account.
A memorial service was later held Saturday, Sept. 18th at Bayside Church Adventure Campus on Stanford Ranch Road in Roseville.
