Air Guard honors pilot killed in Iraq

Lt. Col. Kevin Sonnenberg died June 15 while serving in Iraq. A monument in his honor will be unveiled today at the Ohio Air Guard base.

A nearly $7 million complex housing the Ohio Air National Guard 180th Fighter Wing's logistics readiness squadron at Toledo Express Airport will be dedicated today to one of the unit's pilots who was killed this summer in Iraq.

Lt. Col. Kevin Sonnenberg, of McClure, Ohio, was killed June 15 when the F-16 fighter jet he was flying crashed five miles northwest of Balad Air Base in Iraq. He was on a mission to support ground forces.

A memorial monument for Colonel Sonnenberg, who received a Bronze Star posthumously, also will be unveiled today by the 180th Fighter Wing.

The 42-year-old colonel also was a pilot with Delta Airlines and a Henry County farmer.

A 1983 graduate of Napoleon High School and 1987 graduate of Bowling Green State University, Colonel Sonnenberg joined the Air Guard in 1990, graduating from undergraduate pilot training in 1993 and F-16 training in 1994.

Colonel Sonnenberg previously served in Qatar, Kuwait, and Turkey.

The complex to be named in Colonel Sonnenberg's honor includes a building replacing one of the original 180th buildings from 1958. The building officially opens today.

The building was finished in December after more than a year of construction, and the 50-member squadron took occupancy earlier this year. The squadron provides warehousing and other functions.