Views from the Edge Contributed to this report
A Junior ROTC cadet who was shot and killed after holding the door open for students escaping the Florida gunman will be honored posthumously by West Point.
The Sun Sentinel reports that Peter Wang will receive an honorary degree from the military academy.
The 15-year-old first year student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School dreamed of someday graduating from West Point. He died while wearing his uniform. Wang would have been a member of the class of 2025.
He was laid to rest today in North Lauderdale. Capt. Shahin Uddin was there to present the posthumous letter to the family.
Gov. Rick Scott also ordered the Florida National Guard to honor Wang and two other cadets who died in the shooting with an Army Medal of Heroism. That’s the highest honor in the ROTC.
The 15-year-old was one of three JROTC cadets who died during the shooting in Parkland, Florida. Cadets Alaina Petty, 14, and Martin Duque, 13, were also killed.
All three cadets are being honored with JROTC Heroism Medals, a spokesman for Army Cadet Command told Army Times. The medal is awarded to cadets who perform an act of heroism, one that is “so exceptional and outstanding that it clearly sets the individual apart from fellow students or from other persons in similar circumstances,” according to the criteria for the award.
The Florida high school won’t reopen until Feb. 27 as students attend the funerals of their classmates. Hundreds of students and family members went to Peter Wang’s services and heard his mother, Hui Wang, tearfully address funeral attendees.
“I watched you walking to school on February 14,” the grieving parent said while looking at her child’s coffin, according to the New York Post. “Now my body is bleeding in unbearable pain. Baby, am I in a nightmare? This is unbearable. Baby, hold my hand, reach me. Baby, I’m stuck in this nightmare. Lead the way out.”
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RE: JROTC Cadet who died in Florida Sooting to be Honored Posthumously by West Point: Too too sad. For all of them and all of us, to live in a country with this kind of violence and with majority Republican congressmen who could care less.