Nearly 19 years after losing her son in Iraq, Gold Star mother reacts to latest U.S. Combat Death

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO)-- The Pentagon has identified a Fort Carson soldier as the seventh U.S. service member killed during Operation Epic Fury. 

U.S. Army Sgt. Benjamin N. Pennington, 26, of Glendale, Kentucky, died Sunday from injuries he sustained during an enemy attack on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia on March 1, according to the Department of Defense. 

Pennington was assigned to the 1st Space Battalion, 1st Space Brigade at Fort Carson and had served in the Army since 2017. 

As the war with Iran continues to unfold and the number of American casualties grows, families across the country are once again grappling with the reality of losing loved ones in combat.

Today, KRDO13 is speaking with a Gold Star mother from Southern Colorado who lost her son in Iraq nearly 19 years ago. She says hearing about another young soldier killed overseas brings back memories that never truly fade.

“You raise them to be loyal, to be committed, with integrity,” says Joann Madorran. “They leave as children, and they come back looking like men from boot camp, and then they go off and fight these wars.”

Madorran lost her son, Jeffrey Allen Avery, while he was serving in Iraq.

She says while some service members die in combat, others are lost in accidents or unexpected circumstances, something she says families never imagine will happen to them.

“You just don’t think it’s going to happen to you,” she said.

For many Americans, news of another U.S. service member killed overseas may appear as just another headline tied to a growing conflict. But for Gold Star families, those headlines can reopen wounds that never truly heal.

Madorran says she last spoke with her son just days before he died.

“We spoke on the phone when he was in Iraq. He had been on R and R three days prior to his death,” she said. She remembers him being so proud the last time he was home before he died; she shared how proud he was to show up in his uniform. She also shared his one request when he went home, "He wanted me to make his favorite pork country-style ribs."

Nearly two decades later, she says the grief hasn’t disappeared — it has simply become part of her life.

“The journey never ends,” she said. “You wake up, and you’re in your journey, and you go to sleep, and you’re in your journey.”

Now, as another family begins the unimaginable process of grieving their loved one, Madorran says her heart is with them.

She knows the pain they are about to carry.

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