FORT LEONARD WOOD, MO (AP) – Fort Leonard Wood is dedicating a new building in honor of Missouri’s first female solider killed by hostile fire in Iraq.

The base says a memorial plaque honoring Sgt. Amanda N. Pinson of St. Louis will be formally unveiled during a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday for the new Training Support Center.

Pinson was 21 years old in March 2006 when a mortar exploded in the central Iraq city of Tikrit.

The blast killed her and 22-year-old Spc. Carlos M. Gonzalez, of Middletown, N.Y. Both were based at Fort Campbell, Ky.

Pinson was a signals intelligence analyst. She enlisted out of high school when she was 18, telling a newspaper columnist at the time that she thought the experience would help her grow – and that she was aware of the dangers involved.