For 30 years, Camp Lejeune exposed troops to chemicals
By Meg Jones of the Journal Sentinel
Waukesha – John Hartung thought something was wrong with the water while he was stationed at Camp Lejeune.
The Milwaukee native joined the Marines in 1977 and spent six months at the Marine Corps base in North Carolina. He drank from the bubblers and the water tanks brought out to troops training in the field, brushed his teeth, ate in the chow halls and swam in the pool.
Unfortunately for Hartung, his suspicions would not be confirmed for decades.
“I said, ‘This water tastes funny.’ They said, ‘That’s how it tastes down here,’?” said Hartung, who got cysts on his neck and was sent to the infirmary. “I saw others with boils and rashes, and they didn’t know why.”
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