For Camp Lejeune toxic water survivors, the fight for justice is far from over. On Wednesday, it moves to within steps of the main gate of the installation where the water contamination sickened as many as a million Marines, civilians, and their families.
On Wednesday, survivors and supporters will gather at Freedom Fountain in Jacksonville before walking to Baby Heaven, the cemetery where many children who died after being exposed to Camp Lejeune’s contaminated water are buried.
The gathering is being organized by Brian and April Amburgey, who have become advocates for survivors still waiting for their Camp Lejeune Justice Act claims to be resolved.
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The walk comes at a critical point in the fight.
More than 400,000 administrative claims have been filed against the federal government under the 2022 Camp Lejeune Justice Act. The law gave people who were exposed to the base’s contaminated drinking water a new path to seek compensation for illnesses they believe were caused by that exposure.
But the process has moved slowly.
The Justice Department says the government has now offered more than $1 billion to thousands of claimants. Still, hundreds of thousands of people who filed claims are waiting for answers.
Survivors and their advocates say the problem is not simply the amount of money being offered. They say the process itself has created another obstacle for people who have already waited years — and, in many cases, decades — for accountability.
That is why advocates are pushing Congress to pass the Ensuring Justice for Camp Lejeune Victims Act.
The proposed legislation would make significant changes to the way Camp Lejeune lawsuits are handled, including expanding where cases can be heard, changing evidentiary requirements and providing additional protections for people pursuing claims.
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The legislation comes as the Camp Lejeune litigation continues to play out in federal court in eastern North Carolina.
Four federal judges are overseeing thousands of lawsuits filed by people who say exposure to chemicals including trichloroethylene and perchloroethylene in the base water caused cancers and other serious illnesses.
The scientific evidence has become one of the central battles in the litigation. Plaintiffs must establish that exposure to the contaminated water was a substantial factor in causing their illnesses — a question that has led to a complicated and sometimes contentious fight over scientific experts and medical evidence.
At the same time, the court has been pushing the parties toward a possible global resolution that could settle large numbers of cases rather than requiring individual trials.
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But for the people gathering in Jacksonville Wednesday, the issue remains intensely personal.
Their walk to Baby Heaven will put a human face on a legal battle that can sometimes be reduced to statistics: more than 400,000 claims, thousands of lawsuits and hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements and offers.
Every number represents a person.
Some are veterans who served at Camp Lejeune. Others are family members who lived on the base. Some were born there. And some are the survivors of people who became sick and died.
For years, advocates including Jerry Ensminger and Mike Partain have pressed the government and Congress to acknowledge the consequences of the contamination and provide a meaningful path to compensation.
Wednesday’s gathering continues that fight — bringing survivors together in Jacksonville and ending at a place that represents perhaps the most painful part of the Camp Lejeune story: the children who never lived long enough to see justice.
