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UPDATED: JROTC Cadet Who Died in Florida Shooting to be Honored Posthumously by West Point

Peter Wang

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.

Wang was buried Tuesday in his JROTC uniform, at his family’s request, and the JROTC Heroism Medal was on his uniform, said Lt. Col. Christopher Belcher, spokesman for Army Cadet Command. A second medal was given to the family as a keepsake, he said.

Peter Wang Honored

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.

 

Meanwhile, fellow students, moved and angered by the deaths of their classmates, spearheaded a movement to ban assault weapon sales, blaming the NRA and the politicians that they support, including Donald Trump, Sen. Marco Rubio and Florida Gov. Rick Scott.

 

Busloads of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students watched from the gallery as state House members overwhelmingly voted down a motion to debate an existing bill that would ban assault weapons and large-capacity ammunition magazines.

 

HB 219, a bill filed in October, would ban any “selective-fire firearm capable of fully automatic, semiautomatic or burst fire,” including the AR-15 rifle, the type used in at the students’ high school Wednesday.
Students across the nation are advocating for gun control measures. Monday. Students staged a “die-in” at the White House.
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students have planned a march in Washington, D.C., on March 24 to demand action in the “March for Our Lives.” Sister marches are expected to occur in cities across the country, and celebrities including George Clooney and Oprah Winfrey have expressed their support for the march.

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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1 COMMENT

  1. 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.

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