Services set for Kentucky soldier killed in war with Iran, Beshear says
Funeral arrangements have been set for a Kentucky soldier killed in the U.S. conflict with Iran, Gov. Andy Beshear said Tuesday.
Services for Sgt. Benjamin Pennington, 26, of Glendale, will be Saturday at Central Hardin High School in Cecilia, Beshear said in a news release. Burial will be at Kentucky Veterans Cemetery in Radcliff.
Pennington, who enlisted in the Army in 2017, was injured in an attack March 1 at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia. He died March 8 and was posthumously promoted to the rank of staff sergeant.
He was assigned to 1st Space Battalion, 1st Space Brigade, which is based in Fort Carson, Colo.
Another Kentucky soldier, Tech. Sgt. Ashley B. Pruitt, 34, of Bardstown, was one of six who died March 12, when an aerial refueling tanker crashed in Iraq. Prewitt was assigned to 6th Air Refueling Wing, MacDill Air Force Base, Fla.
Arrangements for Pruitt are not set, Beshear said.
“Sgt. Benjamin Pennington and Tech. Sgt. Ashley Pruitt are two American heroes who called our commonwealth home, and we must stand together as Kentuckians to honor their sacrifice,” Beshear said in the release. “Please join Britainy and me as we continue to pray for their families, our fellow Americans in mourning and our brave service members.”
Beshear said he will order flags to be lowered to half-staff on the days of Pennington’s and Pruitt’s burials.
