Leo Case, a World War II tank commander and recipient of the Navy Cross, died of multiple cancers at 58 after being exposed to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune. His granddaughter, Jessie Hoerman, has spent years collecting documents to prove his illness was a result of his time at the facility. She plans to share her archive with other veterans and their families to help bolster their water contamination cases. Up to 1 million people who lived or worked at Camp Lejeune between 1953 and 1987 may have been exposed to chemicals in the drinking water that can cause severe health problems. The contamination was linked to waste from a dry-cleaning facility and leaks from underground storage tanks on base. Leo Case died of bowel, colon, liver, and lung cancer, with the Veterans Administration hospital finding no evidence of a hereditary or infectious disease. Hoerman began investigating her grandfather’s illness after the expansion of benefits to veterans exposed to toxic substances, as part of the PACT Act of 2022. She hopes to help other families affected by Camp Lejeune’s contaminated water supply by sharing her research and documents, offering families the chance to access hard copies of the records she has collected.
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