Taps

I wrote about Cadet Matthew La Porte a few days ago, the AFROTC cadet who was murdered in the VT shootings. Yesterday we received some photos of his funeral from our Colonel that had been disseminated down through the AFROTC chain. I'm going to share them with you because the VT Cadets and the Air Force really took care of one of their own. The photos come courtesy of Col. Rock Roszak, a former Det/CC at VT. The captions are his. To quote from his email, "Cadet Matthew La Porte was laid to rest with full military honors today in Blacksburg. His burial followed a funeral mass at Saint Mary's Church, attended by Matt's family, President Steger, Provost McNamee, Major General Allen, the Corps and ROTC staffs, and 50 cadets, including Cadet La Porte's Highty-Tighty classmates. The Corps of Cadets attended his burial in regimental formation."

1-Colors: The Color Guard prepares to leave the Upper Quadrangle for the regimental march to the cemetery in Blacksburg. Photo by Rick Griffiths.




















2-March: Cadet Andrew Archut leads the regiment through the streets of Blacksburg neighborhoods. Photo by Josh Armstrong.




















3-Honor Guard: A cadet honor guard brought the casket into the church for the funeral mass...















4-Moving: ...and after the mass processed to the burial site.















5-Flag: The Honor Guard folded the National Flag which was then presented to the La Porte family.














6-Regiment: The full cadet regiment was arrayed along the hills of the cemetery. Photo by Michael Kiernan.













7-White Cords: At the end of the service, Cadet La Porte's classmates placed their white Presidential Citation cords on their classmate's casket. Photo by John McCormick.















8-Highty-Tighties: Matt's unit, the Highty-Tighties, prepares to lead the regiment back to the Upper Quad after the ceremony.















9-VMI Cadets: A contingent of cadets from VMI honored our fallen cadet and marched with the regiment. We were honored to have them with us.















10-Cords: May our fallen young man rest in peace.

Indeed.

Present, ARMS

Order, ARMS.

Rest easy, Cadet La Porte. I'll see you in the Wild Blue.