West Point Cadets honor Junior ROTC cadet killed in Parkland shooting

Washington — Just before the class of 2025 graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and accepted their commissions as officers in the U.S. Army, a group of cadets this past May decided to honor one of their own — a boy who dreamed of attending West Point but before he could, laid down his life as a hero.

Peter Wang, an Army Junior ROTC cadet, was just 15 years old and among the 17 killed during the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. During the shooting, he held a door open to allow students to escape the merciless gunfire on that day.

In a follow-up story published seven years after the shooting, CBS News reported in May that Wang was posthumously accepted to the West Point class of 2025.

When CBS News reached out to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in the days before graduation this year to ask whether Wang — who was symbolically accepted into the class — would be awarded his diploma posthumously, the inquiry appeared to catch both the academy's media relations staff and leadership off guard. Yet among some class members, Wang's story of sacrifice remained vivid, and their determination to see him honored had not faded.

"When we put out a form asking for classmates to nominate honorary members of our class, I was not expecting Peter Wang's name to be on the list of nominees," newly minted Army 2nd Lt. Katherine Metz, the president of the class of 2025 at West Point, told CBS News. "Most cadets nominated former classmates who were separated from West Point for reasons outside of their control — mostly medical — or foreign exchange cadets who made a significant impact on our class or their countries. However, Peter's name appeared countless times within our class's responses."

Metz had read the article by CBS News and other news stories from the time of the shooting. She said a number of cadets from the class nominated Wang for the Honorary Graduate Award and would soon be mailing his certificate to his parents.

The award is an honor conferred on those who did not physically graduate with the class but who embody West Point's core values of duty, honor and country.

When the sounds of gunfire reverberated through the hallways of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Wang was in study hall. As panic spread, he moved toward the exit — not to flee, but to hold the door open, easing the way for his classmates to escape.

He was shot 13 times. Wang was found dead in a third-floor hallway, wearing his Army JROTC uniform.

The Florida National Guard honored Wang with a military funeral, and hundreds assembled to pay their respects.

Metz said one of her classmates wrote about how Wang "valiantly sacrificed himself to hold the door for his fellow classmates to escape," and said it was only fitting "that we recognize him as an honorary graduate, as he would have been with us."

Some members of the class of 2025 were already familiar with Wang's story and the tragic path that led to his posthumous admission. But for many, the details emerged only when his name was announced as an honorary member of the graduating class. From that moment, classmates say, his story became part of the class's shared identity — an enduring example of selflessness and sacrifice.

"Now, our whole class knows his story and will take his selfless example of sacrifice with us into our service as commissioned officers in the United States Army," said Metz.

For his actions in 2018, Wang was posthumously awarded the Medal of Heroism by the U.S. Army, the highest award given to Army JROTC and ROTC cadets whose performance "involved the acceptance of danger and extraordinary responsibilities." Junior ROTC cadets Alaina Petty and Martin Duque, who were also killed during the shooting, also received the medal.

"Peter demonstrated the characteristics and attributes we seek out of graduates of the Naval Academy or West Point," retired Lt. Gen. Robert Caslen told CBS News in May. Caslen, who was the superintendent of West Point in 2018, authorized Wang's entry into the class of 2025.

He added, "Individuals like Peter are exactly the men and women you want leading America's youth in combat situations, the fact that he demonstrated that at his age says a lot about him which is why we made him an honorary member of the class."