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Pictured are the Wallace brothers in their senior year of high school and in their military boot camp graduation photographs. Pictured, from left, is Michael, David, James, Stephen, Thomas and Joseph.
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Pictured are all six Wallace brothers. In the front row, from left, are Stephen, Thomas and Joseph and standing are Michael, David and James.
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Military Service, LEJA Runs in the Family for One WIU Student

May 3, 2018

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MACOMB, IL – For Western Illinois University junior law enforcement and justice administration (LEJA) major Stephen Wallace, of Mendota, IL, serving in the United States military and attending Western runs in the family.
 
After Stephen enrolled at Western in 2013, after an Illinois Army National Guard tour of duty in Kuwait, he became the third of his five brothers to attend WIU to study LEJA. It was during his military service, he said, he realized all of the educational benefits available to those serving in the military.
 
"In Kuwait, I took an NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service) course on physical security and it piqued my interest," he said. "I also knew, because my brothers had gone to Western, that the ranking of its law enforcement program was really high."
 
Once Stephen was on campus, he met with Kathy Meyers, assistant director of the WIU Veterans Resource Center, to check on his military benefits. The meeting resulted in a part-time job at the center this semester, helping Meyers manage telephone calls and emails.
 
Stephen's parents, Barbara and Michael Wallace, also of LaMoille, IL, are both retired from the Navy, and all six of their children have served their country.
 
"All six brothers were in the military, and all six were Eagle Scouts," said Stephen. "My brothers got a good education at WIU."
 
His younger brother, Thomas is a 2014 LEJA graduate and is a patrol officer in Wichita, KS, and his older brother, David, is a 2008 LEJA graduate and is a correctional sergeant in the Scott County Jail. His brother, Michael, served in the Illinois Army National Guard; James currently serves in the Marine Reserves, and Joseph is a Marine in San Diego, CA.

Five of the brothers, including Stephen, have served overseas deployments. Stephen spent nine months in Kuwait after deploying in 2012.

At WIU, Stephen has been taking a variety of LEJA classes, but an English class with Assistant Professor Jacqueline Wilson led to him writing for the military literary magazine on campus, "SITREP: Veteran Perspectives on Combat and Peace."

"I wrote for the first edition, and I have learned there is now a copy of it in the White House," Stephen said. "I wrote a narrative story, 'My Turn to Serve,' about basic training and my deployment time."

A copy of the first edition of the literary magazine was hand delivered to the White House during a 2016 Congressional Medal of Honor ceremony attended by a former WIU graduate student.

This is the ninth consecutive year WIU has been ranked by G.I. Jobs Magazine, this year receiving the Military Friendly Schools Bronze designation.

For more information about the benefits available to veterans and active duty service members, visit wiu.edu/veterans.


Posted By: Jodi Pospeschil (JK-Pospeschil@wiu.edu)
Office of University Communications & Marketing