— The parents of a 21-year-old West Point cadet fatally injured in a skiing accident raced the clock to get a judge's permission to retrieve his sperm for "the possibility of preserving some piece of our child that might live on."
Peter Zhu was president of the Cadet Medical Society and was planning to attend medical school at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences.
"Peter was one of the top cadets in the Class of 2019, very well-known and a friend to all," Brig. Gen. Steve Gilland, commandant of cadets, said in a release on Friday. "He embodied the ideals of the Corps of Cadets and its motto of Duty, Honor, Country and all who knew Peter will miss him."
A memorial for Zhu will be held at West Point on Tuesday and a funeral service will be held Thursday at the academy's cemetery.
Parents of dead West Point cadet retrieve his sperm
WEST POINT, N.Y. — The parents of a 21-year-old West Point cadet fatally injured in a skiing accident raced the clock to get a judge's permission to retrieve his sperm for "the possibility of preserving some piece of our child that might live on."
U.S. Military Academy Cadet Peter Zhu was declared brain dead Wednesday, four days after the California resident was involved in a skiing accident at West Point that fractured his spine and cut off oxygen to his brain.
"That afternoon, our entire world collapsed around us," Monica and Yongmin Zhu of Concord, California, said in a court petition. But they saw a brief window to fulfill at least part of Peter's oft-stated desire to one day raise five children.
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![In this Thursday, Sept. 8, 2016 photo, Donald Trump is shown in the 1964 Shrapnel yearbook at the New York Military Academy in Cornwall-on-Hudson, N.Y. While Republican presidential nominee, Trump, talks tough about dealing with China, his old military prep school is building bridges to that country. The New York Military Academy began classes this fall with new Chinese backing and a former New York City high school principal originally from China in charge. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)]({"default":{"load":"defer","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BBUq0Dj.img?h=100&w=100&m=6&q=60&u=t&o=t&l=f&x=1759&y=1687"}})
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© United States Military Academy USMA cadet Peter L. Zhu at the United States Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. 
