Kentucky soldier stationed in Saudi Arabia is 7th U.S. military death in Iran war

By — Allen G. Breed, Associated Press Allen G. Breed, Associated Press By — Dylan Lovan, Associated Press Dylan Lovan, Associated Press Leave your comments Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/kentucky-soldier-stationed-in-saudi-arabia-is-7th-u-s-military-death-in-iran-war Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Kentucky Soldier stationed in Saudi Arabia Arabia is the seventh death of a US military member in the war against Iran Nation March 9, 2026 7:39 p.m. m. EDT ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky man who joined the Army shortly after graduating high school is the seventh U.S. service member to die in combat during the Iran War, the Pentagon announced Monday. Army Sgt. Benjamin N. Pennington, 26, of Glendale, Kentucky, died Sunday after being wounded during a March 1 attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, a Pentagon statement said. READ MORE: US soldiers killed in Iran war remembered for their service and devotion to their families Mike Bell, retired pastor of Glendale Christian Church, said he knew Pennington since he was a small child and received a call from Pennington's father when the soldier was wounded. "I talked to Tim on Saturday morning and he was a little better, and they were talking about maybe moving him to Germany," Bell said. Tim Pennington called again that night, Bell said, to ask for prayers as his son's condition was worsening, and later told him the soldier had succumbed to his injuries. "He was just a quiet person," Bell said, noting that Pennington attended the church's after-school program. "I mean, he never got any attention because he just stuck with it doing what he had to do to make it happen. Does that make sense?" Pennington was assigned to the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command's 1st Space Battalion, 1st Space Brigade based at Fort Carson, Colorado. The unit's mission focused on "missile warning, GPS, and long-distance satellite communications," according to its website. "This simply breaks my heart," Keith Taul, judge executive of Hardin County, where Pennington was from, said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press. "I've known the family for at least 30 years. I can't imagine the pain and suffering they are experiencing. Losing even one service member is simply a devastating blow. But when it's one of our own, we grieve as a community." Glendale is an unincorporated city of approximately 300 residents south of the Hardin County seat of Elizabethtown. In a statement posted on social media, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear called Pennington "a hero who sacrificed everything to serve our country." Six other soldiers killed The other six service members killed since the conflict began on Feb. 28 were Army reservists killed in Kuwait when an Iranian drone attacked an operations center in a civilian port. President Donald Trump joined grieving families at Dover Air Force Base on Saturday in the dignified transfer of those six American soldiers. The dignified transfer, a ritual that returns the remains of American service members killed in combat, is considered one of the grimmest duties of any commander in chief. During his first term, Trump said witnessing the transfer was "the hardest thing I have to do" as president. Pennington, 'an American hero,' graduated in 2017 from Central Hardin High School, where he enrolled in the automotive technology track, district spokesman John Wright told the AP. Former automotive technology instructor Tom Pitt, who taught Pennington in 2017 at the Hardin County Early College and Career Center, called him "an American hero." "A lot of times, as a teacher, you have students who are smart, you have students who are charismatic, who are likeable, dare I say, charming," said Pitt, who called Pennington Nate. "You rarely have students with