Elizabeth Loncki first went to Arizona State University to study business and then after a year, she realized a desk job was not in her future. Loncki joined the Air Force in 2003. She graduated from the Naval School Explosive Ordnance Disposal in February of 2004 before being stationed with the 775th Civil Engineer Squadron at Hill Air Force Base, Utah.
Senior Airman Loncki deployed to Iraq in August of 2006 and was assigned to the 447th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron. Here she was a member of the four-person Team Lima, which successfully executed 194 missions on the outskirts of Baghdad, resulting in the safe disarming of 129 IEDs, saving countless lives.
On January 7th, 2007, Loncki, 23, was killed after her explosive ordnance disposal team was targeted by a suicide vehicle bomb near Al-Mahmudiyah, Iraq. She was scheduled to return home in 20 days, where her boyfriend, Sgt. Jayson Johnson, also stationed at Hill, had planned to propose to her. Instead, Johnson served as a military escort for Loncki’s body as she was transported to the mortuary at Dover Air Force Base and prepared for burial.
“She wanted to do something good,” said her father, Stephen Loncki. “She said I’m going to be on the EOD … because it’s the highest challenge that you can have in the Air Force, and I think I’m up to it.”
Sources:
Air Force Senior Airman Elizabeth A. Loncki| Military Times
Hill mourns the loss of 3 Airmen > Air Force > News
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