U.S. Marine Nicole Gee, center, awaits the launch of an MV-22B Osprey during an en route care exercise aboard the USS Iwo Jima, April 5, 2021. A portion of California’s Interstate 80 was officially dedicated as the Sgt. Nicole Gee U.S. Marine Corps Memorial Highway, honoring the Marine who was killed during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. (Mark E. Morrow Jr./U.S. Marine Corps)
(Tribune News Service) — A portion of California’s Interstate 80 was officially dedicated as the Sgt. Nicole Gee U.S. Marine Corps Memorial Highway, honoring the Marine killed during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
Family members and friends of Sgt. Gee wiped tears and took videos as a plastic cover was removed from the large green traffic sign bearing Gee’s name above the northbound lanes near the Interstate 80 and Douglas Boulevard interchange in Placer County. A duplicate sign, which was decorated with well wishes from family and friends, will be hung above the south bound lanes near the Interstate 80 and Highway 65 interchange.
They were joined by Assemblymember Joe Patterson, R-Lincoln, and state Sen. Roger Niello, R-Fair Oaks, who offered remarks in honor of Sgt. Gee and in support of Assembly Concurrent Resolution 126, which authorized the freeway naming. A copy of the text of the resolution, which was passed unanimously by the Assembly and state Senate last year, was presented to Cheryl Juels, who is Gee’s aunt.
“I wanted the opportunity for friends and family to be here when the sign is placed on the highway,” Patterson said during the dedication ceremony. “For her heroic efforts supporting our nation, she deserved to have this recognition here in Placer County.”
Sgt. Nicole Gee holding a baby at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, posted Aug. 20, 2021, on X. Gee of Sacramento, Calif., was killed in a 2021 bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan. (U.S. Department of Defense)
Gee, 23, was one of 13 U.S. service members killed in a suicide bombing on Aug. 26, 2021, while helping evacuate Americans and Afghan allies at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. In one of her last photos, which was displayed during the highway dedication, she’s seen cradling an Afghan infant in her arms,— a quiet moment of care that resonated worldwide.
She was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and other military honors. Her name also appears on a new road in West Roseville as Nicole Gee Drive.
A highway sign designating a portion of Interstate 80 in Placer County, Calif., as "Sergeant Nicole Gee U.S. Marine Corps Memorial Highway" is unveiled. (Hannah Ruhoff, The Sacramento Bee/TNS)
“The worst thing that can happen is you lose someone and they’re forgotten,” Cheryl Juels said dressed in a jacket emblazoned with “Sgt. Nicole Gee Memorial Foundation,” which the family founded after Gee’s death. “A sign like this means when people drive down this road and are stuck in traffic we hope they’ll take a moment to remember her.”
According to Juels, all of Gee’s family members were close, with Gee’s cousins growing up alongside her. Juels says that after Gee’s mother died in 2019, she helped play a parental role for Gee.
“Nicole was my baby girl,” she said. “Losing her was a nightmare for all of us.”
Gee graduated from Oakmont High School and was stationed at Camp Lejeune with Combat Logistics Battalion 24. Her family and fellow Marines have described her as driven, resilient and devoted to service. Gee’s mother-in-law, Christy Shamblin, told the Sacramento Bee in 2024 that the annual anniversary of her death remains difficult, but noted that community recognition brings a measure of comfort.
The Sacramento Bee’s Daniel Hunt contributed.
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