Justin Hicks

26-year-old Benjamin Pennington from Glendale, Kentucky, was at an air base in Saudi Arabia on March 1st when Iran retaliated for the initial strikes against the country by the U.S.

and Israel.

He died Sunday due to injuries from the attack.

The Army says Pennington enlisted in the military in 2017 and was assigned to an Army space battalion last year.

His unit's commanding officer said he was dedicated and led with strength, professionalism, and a sense of duty.

In remarks to a firefighter association, Vice President J.D.

Vance alluded to Pennington, saying he would be, quote, coming home.

For NPR News, I'm Justin Hicks in Louisville.

Where I'm standing right now, I can see sort of black smoke rising into the air, lots and lots of lights flashing, red lights from fire trucks and blue lights from police cars.

And where I'm standing is kind of as far as police are letting people go.

Every now and then we hear pops of small explosions way off in the distance.

Police here at the edge of the scene don't know a lot.

We were just kind of holding folks back and business owners are here kind of worried.

UPS people are here leaving the UPS Worldport facility.

They've been told to leave by UPS and I don't see any planes landing at the Louisville airport right now.

It was wild. We had a bunch of power lines. People were rushing to get out and we're driving through them. But we got very, very blessed considering that we are 15, 20 feet away from mass destruction.

It was wild. We had a bunch of power lines. People were rushing to get out and we're driving through them. But we got very, very blessed considering that we are 15, 20 feet away from mass destruction.

It was wild. We had a bunch of power lines. People were rushing to get out and we're driving through them. But we got very, very blessed considering that we are 15, 20 feet away from mass destruction.