LEXINGTON, Ky. — The body of a Kentucky solider killed in combat earlier this month in the conflict with Iran was returned to U.S. soil Monday night.

Sgt. Benjamin Pennington, of Hardin County, was honored March 9 during a dignified transfer ceremony at Dover Air Force base in Delaware. Vice President JD Vance and Department of Defense Secretary Peter Hegseth were in attendance for the transfer.

Pennington, 26, died March 8, one week after he was injured in an attack at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, according to the DOD. Pennington was assigned to 1st Space Battalion, 1st Space Brigade, which is based in Colorado.

Hardin County Judge-Executive Keith Taul ordered all flags to be lowered to half-staff at Hardin County government buildings from Monday to sunset Wednesday, March 11 in honor of Pennington. Taul said he was shocked and saddened to learn of Pennington’s death.

“This just breaks my heart. I have known the family for at least 30 years. I can’t imagine the pain and suffering they are experiencing,” Taul said in a statement. “To lose a single service member is just a devastating blow. But when it is one of our own, we grieve as a community.”

Pennington is a 2017 Central Hardin High School graduate, according to Hardin County Schools. He was also enrolled in the school district’s automotive technology pathway program. He enlisted in the Army in 2017. The school district said Pennington represented the best of the community, state and country.

“Regardless of time or distance, Sgt. Pennington remains a cherished member of the HCS and Central Hardin families,” the school district said in a statement. “We grieve alongside all who loved him and will forever honor his legacy.

Pennington was also an Eagle Scout, according to Taul.

“He’s been trying to serve his community for as long as he’s been living, and has given the ultimate sacrifice so all of us could be right here, right now, standing together in the freedom that we have to be able to do that,” Taul said.

Pennington is the seventh U.S. solder who has died in the conflict with Iran, which has been ongoing for more than a week. The other six soldiers died in an Iranian missile strike at a civilian port in Kuwait one day after the war began.

What happens when a fallen soldier is brought back to the US?

A dignified transfer of a fallen soldier’s remains is one of many traditions that honor military personnel killed in combat. According to the DOD, the process of bringing a fallen soldier home is coordinated by Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations, which is based at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

After a soldier’s remains are recovered, mortuary technicians get them to an evacuation point to fly them to Dover.

At Dover, a highly-trained team of seven service members take a flag-covered casket with the soldiers remains off the plane and place it into a van. The DOD said dignified transfers take place at any time of day in any weather, and the team is trained to conduct precise and distinctive movements in unison during the transfer.

The van then takes the remains to medical experts of the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System. Those experts perform autopsies and investigate the cause of death.

When the medical examination is complete, the remains are released back to the AFMAO’s port mortuary. The DOD said the facility is the only stateside port mortuary, and specialists are licensed funeral directors who prepare the remains to be returned to family.

Meanwhile, liaisons and deployed service members to the Dover base help the family through the process of preparing for the funeral. The DOD said its role can be helping pick out and inspecting a casket, preparing the soldier’s most up-to-date uniform and ironing out the flag that will be placed on top of the casket.

After the body is properly prepared for burial, the remains are either driven or flown to a designated funeral home, according to the DOD. If the remains are flown out of Dover, an honor guard will perform a dignified arrival ceremony upon arrival, which is when the remains are transferred from a plane to a hearse.

AFMAO also has an honor guard program that helps prepare other entities for a proper funeral for a fallen soldier.

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