USMC SGT NICOLE L. GEE IS NOW IN "ARMS OF THE ANGELS"

 A Klamath Falls-based air ambulance service took flight Monday to carry the remains of a U.S. Marine Corps sergeant killed in Afghanistan to Virginia for burial at Arlington National Cemetery.

Nicole Gee, a 23-year-old Marine Corps sergeant from Sacramento, California, was one of 13 U.S. servicemembers killed in a terrorist attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, on August 26.

The attack outside of Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul killed over 170 other people and wounded hundreds more, including at least 20 U.S. Marines.

Gee’s remains were brought from Afghanistan to Sacramento, and a memorial service was held nearby in her hometown of Roseville, California, where her family and friends gathered to say a final goodbye.

On Monday, a Sacramento-bound Falcon 900 jet taxied down the runway at Klamath Regional Airport amid a procession of emergency vehicles on its way to pick up Gee’s remains for transport to Dulles International Airport in Virginia for burial at Arlington National Cemetery.

Ed Langerveld, president and CEO of Emergency Airlift, a long-range air ambulance service headquartered in Klamath Falls, offered up the Falcon 900 - which he flew himself - after being approached by the nonprofit, Honoring Our Fallen.

Langerveld, a former Marine himself, said he felt transporting Gee to her final resting place was the least he could do for a fallen hero.

"We were asked to do it," Langerveld said. "And I didn't want to say no. I didn't think it was right to say no."

“Her final resting place is going to be in Arlington National Cemetery, which is an appropriate place for her to be,” Langerveld said of Gee. “But there was no way to get her there.”

The flight from California to Virginia would have cost $100,000, Langerveld said. And because Gee’s family could not pay to transport Gee themselves, he felt it was his duty to step in to help, he said.

Langerveld said he volunteered to transport Gee across the country free of charge as a way to honor her, and the other U.S. servicemembers killed in the line of duty, he said.

“I can’t carry everybody else. But we were able to do this trip for her. But it is a symbol of how we feel here at Emergency Airlift for all the fallen,” he said. “That we should take care of them and honor them the best we possibly can.”

Prior to takeoff, representatives from the Klamath Falls Police Department, the Klamath County Sheriff’s Office, Klamath County Fire District 1, Oregon State Police, the Kingsley Field Fire Department, and the Air National Guard stood together in honor of Gee.

Meanwhile the Emergency Airlift crew was busy preparing the jet — which has “Sgt. Nicole Gee” and the U.S. Marine Corps emblem across the side — for takeoff.

“This is a community event,” Langerveld said in reference to the local outpouring of support. “She and all the others are heroes.”

Langerveld said although those who have fallen cannot be brought back, he is honored to have gotten the opportunity to fly Gee to her final resting place at Arlington National Cemetery.

“We have this opportunity to take care of her, and treat her in an honorable way,” he said. “And the community cares.”

“And she deserves the utmost respect and honor, and this is one way to do it, a very small way, a very small portion of the events that transpired,” Langerveld added.