WASHINGTON, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Military Academy (USMA) at West Point Tuesday posthumously acknowledged Peter Wang, who died saving his classmates during last week's shooting massacre at a Florida high school, for his heroic actions.
"It was an appropriate way for USMA to honor this brave young man," the renowned military school said in a statement.
Wang, 15, was an Army Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) cadet at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where a 19-year-old gunman Nikolas Cruz prowled through the school and killed 14 students and three staffers last week.
It was the second-deadliest at a public school in the U.S. history.
The Chinese American, who dreamed of getting into West Point, reportedly died in his JROTC uniforms while holding the door to allow others escape from Cruz, a former student of the school who got expelled for disciplinary reasons.
West Point said it has given posthumous offers of admission "in very rare instances. A spokesman said Wang would have been in the Class of 2025.
The young man was buried Tuesday wearing his JROTC uniform, with the U.S. Army's Medal of Heroism, a military decoration awarded by the Department of the Army to a JROTC cadet who performs an act of heroism.
A White House petition for Wang to receive a full-honor military burial was created last week and as of Tuesday night it had over 80,000 of the 100,000 signatures required to be responded by the White House.
"Wang died a hero, and deserves to be treated as such," the petition reads. "His selfless and heroic actions have led to the survival of dozens."
In addition to Wang, the U.S. Army also awarded the medal to two other cadets, Alaina Petty and Martin Duque, among the 17 victims of the Florida shooting.
