{"id":1579,"date":"2026-03-10T17:24:38","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T17:24:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.landingliker.info\/?p=1579"},"modified":"2026-03-10T17:24:39","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T17:24:39","slug":"seventh-us-service-member-killed-in-iran-war-brought-home-in-dignified-transfer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.landingliker.info\/?p=1579","title":{"rendered":"Seventh US service member killed in Iran war brought home in dignified transfer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The seventh US service member<\/a> killed in the conflict with Iran<\/a> \u2014 a 26-year-old from Kentucky \u2014 was brought home Monday evening in a dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sgt. Benjamin Pennington, from Glendale, Kentucky, died Sunday after sustaining injuries the week prior in an attack by Iran on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia. Pennington was assigned to 1st Space Battalion, 1st Space Brigade, a unit within the Army\u2019s Space and Missile Defense Command.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vice President JD Vance joined top military officials, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine, in observing the solemn event. They saluted as the transfer case was taken across the tarmac.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear called Pennington a \u201chero who sacrificed everything serving our country\u201d in a Facebook post on Monday. Lt. Gen. Sean Gainey, commander of Army Space and Missile Defense Command, said in a news release that Pennington \u201cgave the ultimate sacrifice for the country that he loved.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat makes him nothing less than a hero,\u201d Gainey said, \u201cand he will always be remembered that way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pennington enlisted in the Army in 2017 as a unit supply specialist. The Army said Monday he would be posthumously promoted to staff sergeant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A message from the Hardin County school district, where Pennington graduated the same year he enlisted, said he \u201crepresented the very best of our community, state, and nation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are profoundly grateful for his service and his devotion to our country,\u201d the message said. \u201cHis dedication was exemplary and he has proven that by rendering the ultimate sacrifice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flags were flown at half-staff in Hardin County in Pennington\u2019s honor. County Judge-Executive Keith Taul said he\u2019d known Pennington\u2019s father for decades and that his family is \u201churting pretty bad right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pennington\u2019s return home comes just two days after six soldiers<\/a> who were killed last week in a drone strike on their operations center in Kuwait were also brought home<\/a> to Dover. Those soldiers \u2014 Maj. Jeffrey O\u2019Brien, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert Marzan, Capt. Cody Khork, Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor, Sgt. 1st Class Noah Tietjens and Sgt. Declan Coady \u2014 were each members of the same Army Reserve sustainment unit out of Iowa, the 103rd Sustainment Command.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Donald Trump, who attended the Saturday ceremony, said over the weekend that meeting with the families of those six soldiers did not give him pause about the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe parents said to me, everyone one of them, \u2018Please sir, win this for my boy,\u2019 and in one case a young woman, as you know. \u2018Please, win this for my child,\u2019\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The president did not attend Monday\u2019s ceremony. He was flying to Washington from Florida, where he addressed House Republicans at their legislative retreat and gave a press conference on the war with Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump and other senior officials have made clear there would likely be more casualties before the end of the US military\u2019s operations against Iran. Asked Saturday whether he thought he\u2019d have to attend more dignified transfers, Trump responded, \u201cI\u2019m sure. I hate to \u2026 but it\u2019s part of war.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The seventh US service member killed in the conflict with Iran \u2014 a 26-year-old from Kentucky \u2014 was brought home Monday evening in a dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. Sgt. … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1580,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.landingliker.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.landingliker.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.landingliker.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.landingliker.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.landingliker.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1579"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.landingliker.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1579\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1581,"href":"https:\/\/www.landingliker.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1579\/revisions\/1581"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.landingliker.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.landingliker.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.landingliker.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.landingliker.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}