>> when marine corps master sergeant jerry ensminger's young daughter died from a rare type of leukemia, he wanted to know why. his answers led him to the shocking discoveries of one of the largest water contamination mysteries in u.s. history, at camp lejeune where he had once been based. with relentless determination, he spearheaded a decades-long battle to make this information public. the powerful documentary you're about to see is called "semper fi: always faithful." it is a searing look at the american military's betrayal of its own, and an emotional story of one man's transformation into the activist he never imagined he'd become.

>> i joined the marine corps in 1970, right out of high school. i lived that life, breathed it. i loved it. i trained over 2,000 new recruits on the drill field. i came back from okinawa with my family. we applied for base housing. it's a typical military base. jacksonville, north carolina.

we stayed at camp lejeune until december of 1975, when janey was conceived. july of 1983 janey got leukemia. after the shock of her diagnosis wore off, my reaction was to question it, why. that nagging question of why stayed with me through her illness, through her death, and for 14 1/2 years. it's something that doesn't just go away. it never does.

in '97, i found out about the water contamination. i was fixing a plate of food in the kitchen, getting ready for the evening news. the reporter said -- >> the contaminants in the water at lejeune have been linked in scientific literature to birth defects and childhood cancers. >> my first thought was, was this what happened to janey. i dropped my plate, right there. i mean, it was like god was saying to me, here is a glimmer of hope that you will find your answer.

>> i knew my son for six weeks. christopher was buried at arlington national cemetery. and i don't think we ever discussed it again. in about 1998, i read that they were looking for persons who had lived at camp lejeune, and they talked about the exposure to chemicals. hold still. come on. i had lots of things going on, but i said, this is what i want to do. i want to find out what the hell happened. jerry was on to it probably three to four years before i even knew about it. >> i don't think there's anything significant in a lot of this stuff. >> so, what are these documents? >> well, we'll see what we've got. >> tom and i worked for six years without ever even knowing

what the truth was, until the marine corps posted a bunch of documents by mistake. >> as soon as i found that, i said, oh, my god, this is the holy grail, kid. >> i stayed up for weeks on end, all night, going through this website. i couldn't believe what i was reading. when i first found this out, i had all the faith and confidence in the world that the united states marine corps would do what was right by their people. as time went on, i made more and more contacts with the marine corps. you name it, they committed it. stonewall, incorrect information. i started to slowly realize that these people were not going to do what was right by their people. they were going to have to be forced to do it.

and that burden fell on me. >> i couldn't find any other child in her mother's family history or mine that had ever had leukemia. >> in april of last year, i was diagnosed with male breast cancer, i underwent surgery in may. when i saw that interview, life as i knew it changed. and i called that day. i said, i know if you can't give it to me, but can you please pass my information to jerry ensminger and have him call me? because i really want to talk to him. your ears burning? >> the reason i was calling is anything that you find, i need it to be underlined and put in bold block letters. >> the kids are in the room, so watch the wtfs. >> oh, okay. >> here you go, my dear.

i mean, who we were before, were just the partain family. just your average american 39-year-old father of four. i was active in boy scouts. i went camping with my kids. doing what most americans do. okay. i've got to get to work here. that has all changed over the past year. i never thought i would be able to know where my cancer came from. and to be able to make a difference. >> the health and welfare of our marines, sailors, their families and our civilian workers are a top priority for the marine corps.

we'll continue to cooperate to get answers for our marine corps family who may have been exposed to volatile organic compounds in drinking water at camp lejeune in the past. >> officially, i've been told nothing. i've read things. and i've heard things. >> how long did you live on the base? >> i was conceived on the base, and then born on the base, and my exposure ended at the age of four months. >> do you know if you were nursed or if you were fed formula? so your diet every day as a baby was full of the contaminated water. and i'm sure your mom bathed you often in nice warm water. the water itself is going to send the tce into your skin. baby's bottoms are all full of fat, where it will go right into the fat and get into your blood stream.

>> when i first heard about this, i told my oncologist in tallahassee. they said, oh, no way, that's too long. >> for most cancers in adults, we think the latency period is from 10 to 15 years. for children, their cancers can develop with shorter latencies. leukemia we think takes place in the womb. that's why people at camp lejeune have a right to know that they were exposed, and therefore, they should be vigilant about these things. >> and in six months i've located ten families, including myself, in tallahassee, that all lived at lejeune and are all sick. one family, the father died of male breast cancer. there's another gentleman, he was diagnosed of male breast cancer. and me. what are the odds of that? [ male announcer ] i've seen incredible things.

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there's a bunch of them born right after me. here's what we need to get. these stones that tell the parents, a sergeant or staff sergeant, they were military, there's a whole bunch of them spread out through here. they've got the rank of the father. >> he was a first lieutenant. >> we should go in there and catalog all those, and put the dates in sequence and see just how quick these kids were dying, and were they are on the base. >> state farm, this is mike.

for the past ten years, i've been a claims adjuster for state farm insurance. and having the ability to go through and do an investigation, getting the facts together and creating that skill set is invaluable. we have first at camp lejeune, the marine corps says this is what happened. and then we found out that that's not the truth. >> compliance is a number one priority for us. we're talking about the health and welfare of our marines and their families. >> the chemicals were first discovered in the early 1980s. the base was trying to determine the source. as soon as they discovered the source of the chemicals, that well was shut down. >> when i first started looking into this as someone who knew

nothing about camp lejeune, the first thing i wanted to know is, what happened. one of the glaring problems with what the marine corps was saying was granger labs. as i started reading what happened, i could hear in my mind the technicians talking. you know, why aren't you doing something about it, why are you still using this water? i went looking and we found mike hargett at granger labs. >> we recognized some contaminants that we didn't expect to see. i went on base -- we went to talk to some personnel in public works.

>> now, was this a civilian or -- >> no, this was a uniformed personnel, uniformed officer. >> do you recall his rank? >> he was a major. >> it was a very brief meeting. in the meeting we presented the fact that we had found some contaminants. we were almost summarily dismissed that, okay, we'll take care of it. >> hold it. let's back up a minute. you specifically told them that you had found contaminants? >> yes. >> did you identify the contaminants to them? >> i don't believe we even got around to saying what the contaminants were. it was, you know, water's water, we just have to make sure we have plenty of it out there. and these government regulations were a burden that was unwelcomed. >> the fact that he went down there and alerted these people of what was in their water, how dangerous it was -- i mean, for them to say, oh, we didn't know what this was.

we didn't know it was harmful. well, there goes their story. >> yep. >> we want to find out what was really going on behind the scenes. >> politics, convenience, deniability. i've got 30 years over there. >> what went wrong with their plan to keep it quiet? >> they were just -- there was just too much of it. it got out of hand. you can only keep a secret for so long. the more people you involve in the secret, the more likely the secret's going to get out. >> the marine corps did not want an investigation. they did not want a health study. so how do you prevent that? you hide and conceal the truth. >> you know, there's a lot of people out there suffering that need health care. all these military people who didn't stay in and retire, who did one or two enlistments and got out, they're at the mercy of the public health system. we need to bring this issue up publicly.

>> this issue as a whole, as far as public health -- senator burr, do you remember me? >> i do. >> if any situation warrants a hearing by our armed services committee, it's this one. >> jerry is the front end of this team. he's the one that gets out of his farmer suit in north carolina and puts on his coat and tie and goes to d.c. i'm in idaho living in my cave, and providing the information. you know, i just want to see the marine corps accept the fact that they did something to us. >> we testify first. but the order of which we are going to go in, i don't know. >> what are the key messages

that -- >> notification of everybody that was exposed at camp lejeune, studies for the populations that haven't been looked at, and health care. now, for the people that are hurting. >> i'm appearing here today as one spokesperson for the hundreds of thousands of marines, sailors, their families and loyal civilian employees who were unknowingly exposed to horrendous levels of toxins through their drinking water at camp lejeune, north carolina. >> dr. sinks, if you had been on

these bases and known about the contamination, would you have felt comfortable drinking that water? >> i personally would have been using different water. >> i'm told that officials waited years before they identified the contaminated wells, and then closed them down in 1985. who was in charge then at camp lejeune? >> all of the officials at camp lejeune would have been in charge, just like they are today. >> general dickerson, why has the dod not notified those residents at camp lejeune that they were exposed to these toxins? don't you think they have a responsibility to let the people know they were exposed?

>> yes, sir. >> why didn't you do it? >> that would be a very difficult and laborious task. we could try, but i could never commit to finding 100% of the people who may have been exposed. that would be difficult. >> you're telling me the marine corps doesn't know who was at camp lejeune from '65 to 2007? i just can't believe you can't do that. >> these people are sick and dying and fighting for benefits and health. it seems like we would be doing everything possible to contact every person who was on these bases. and i get the sense that we're not making that effort. >> our most precious resources, our marines and families, we're going to do everything possible to take care of them. fight back fast with tums. heartburn relief that neutralizes acid on contact and goes to work in seconds. ♪ tum, tum tum tum tums! see, i knew testosterone could affect sex drive, but not energy or even my mood. that's when i talked with my doctor. he gave me some blood tests... showed it was low t.

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the marine corps was johnny on the spot with a three-page rebuttal of why they should not have to do notification.

i mean, semper fi, you know. when we got to the hearings, i was really expecting those to be the catalyst for more investigations, and then ultimately get to the -- you know, get to the truth. well, i was wrong. they held the hearing, they got great accolades for it, and then they dropped the ball. unfortunately, i cannot get the senator to do a thing. he would not even -- they would not even take my phone calls. you know, the main thing is, don't let this issue die. >> one year ago today, a 39-year-old tallahassee resident was diagnosed with male breast cancer. now mike -- >> there's a part of me that says, shhh, be quiet, sit down.

tell the people you need to tell locally, and let's not make a big scene. but -- >> i'm totally opposite of that. one of the things i've understood -- i mean, our biggest weakness is the fact that we're not concentrated at camp lejeune. this isn't like love canal, where you can go drive down the street and see little suzy's house there, and that's where she died, and little johnny, he got cancer. you can't do that at camp lejeune. the people that were there, were only there for a couple years and they're gone. but as word of this gets out, that weakness becomes our strength. because we're in every town across america. we're in every town, every city, and every state, and every one of us has a congressman and a senator. >> first, i want to thank you

all for your interest. we certainly value the need, the hunger, the desire for information from those of you who have been here at camp lejeune. >> my name is j.w. townsend. i arrived at camp lejeune in 1955. >> i joined the united states marine corps and came to camp lejeune in 1981. >> i worked at camp lejeune as a civilian. >> my husband's name was billy marvin hill. he worked at camp lejeune for 30-some years. >> when i was 47, i was diagnosed with male breast cancer. >> my son was diagnosed with nonhodgkins lymphoma. my daughter, tiffany, was diagnosed with cancer on her kidney. >> three weeks later he was diagnosed with leukemia. >> my children, they both were

so very sick when they came into this world. incubators, couldn't bring them home. >> they knew this about the water. why they didn't tell us -- >> i don't believe they should be hiding any information from this audience. none. >> there is so much pain that has happened in this area, that people don't understand. i blamed myself for years until this came out. i hated myself. i hated my body. because i thought i had failed my children. i had a son, russell alexander thorpe, born november 30th, 1977, with an open spine. there was no hope for him. this is my treasure box that i have of him. this is the suit he was wearing the day he died in my arms at ten minutes past 12:00 new year's eve. this is vomit i have never been

able to wash off. this is what i have left of my son. and then the doctors did not have any idea what was causing it. so they suggested we try again. we did. and i had a son born without a cranium. so i have two graves out at the memorial park. i would appreciate it if y'all would take into consideration that we are not numbers in a study, we are human beings that have had great tragedies. and the pain never leaves. rusty would be 30 years old on the 30th of this month. the pain is no less. thank you. by about $110 a month. roll the dice. care act was passed, company to go down by about $60 a month. little guy rebecca: the law works.

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i'm veronica de la cruz. here's what's happening. president obama met with his security team to discuss the next steps about what will happen in syria. they are still trying to determine whether the president of syria unleashed a deadly

attack using chemicals against his own people. taking actions to try to save giant sequoias threatened by a massive wildfire. let's get you back to the program. now, terry, did you want grits with your eggs? >> no. >> the bread's right there. toaster is right there. hey, buddy. >> he's overly consumed with this. this is his life. this is what he does. he and janey were very, very close. and, you know, i can only imagine what it would be like to lose a child. and he just always seemed like

-- he's always seemed like he didn't want to get close again. because he just couldn't bear losing. so it's pretty tough. you know, you lose your sister, and you kind of feel like you lost your dad, too. so -- >> it ripped our family apart. i mean -- >> he was with her all the time. he lived at that hospital with her. >> she was the type, she wanted to know everything that was going on around her. and she wouldn't take morphine. the day she died, she was really bad. she said, oh, daddy, she said, i really hurt. and i said, i know, honey, i said, but you won't take morphine. and she says, maybe i better have some.

her nurse wiped the port off on her i.v. line and stuck the needle in and was getting ready to push it, and janey looked at her and said, stop. and she looked back and she said, i want some of that for my daddy. and she said, janey, she said, we cannot give this to your daddy. she said, this is a very, very, very strong pain medicine. janey looked at her and said, i know. my daddy's hurting, too. and then to find out that these

people knew about this, never revealed it. well, you understand my resolve in this, so -- >> we're going to pull into a parking lot, site of the water

treatment plant. camp lejeune covers 159,000 acres, 559 miles of roadway, six water treatment facilities, and approximately 7,690 buildings. and it's the largest marine base on the east coast. this is a past disposal area. it's a lot of cleaning solvents mostly. i think it was just dumping over the years. anything and everything, yeah. >> danny, i'm going to be working. no fighting. mom will be home in about an hour. >> how long are you going to be back there? >> we're not going fishing in the middle of the day. >> no, i'm just asking,

how long are you going to be back there? >> maybe another hour. i don't know. hey, this is mike partain from camp lejeune. when you get a chance, there's something that's come up that i'm asking for volunteers. they're wanting to put together a calendar. i'm looking to see who would be interested. a pennant calendar. don't laugh too hard. but when they heard 59 men with breast cancer -- i'll take it. take care. bye-bye. >> we never get to spend any time like we used to. where we just sit together, and just have pizza, and we play board games. >> do you think what i'm doing for camp lejeune is important? >> very important. >> i'm not saying that what you're doing isn't important, and i don't back you. i do. but there are times that, you know, when we don't have a whole lot of time together, i wonder if you ever became sick again, would that be a regret. >> no. it's hard. i mean, i don't enjoy staying up until 1:00, 2:00 in the morning and getting up on five to six

hours of sleep and going to work. it would be nice to go on a family vacation. if we could stop people from being poisoned, and children from being poisoned, and it can save someone's life or save someone from going through what i went through, then it's worth it. >> i agree. are you going fishing? >> hmm? >> are you going fishing? >> yes. yes. is this the thing you gave my husband? well, yeah, yes. the "name your price" tool. you tell us the price you want to pay, and we give you a range of options to choose from. careful, though -- that kind of power can go to your head. that explains a lot. yo, buddy! i got this. gimme one, gimme one, gimme one! the power of the "name your price" tool. only from progressive. i worked a patrol unit for 17 years in the city of baltimore.

when i first started experiencing the pain, it's, it's hard to describe because you have a numbness... but yet you have the pain like thousands of needles sticking in your foot. it was progressively getting worse, and at that point i knew i had to do something. when i went back to my healthcare professional... that's when she suggested the lyrica. once i started taking the lyrica, the pain started subsiding. [ male announcer ] it's known that diabetes damages nerves. lyrica is fda approved to treat diabetic nerve pain. lyrica is not for everyone. it may cause serious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these, new, or worsening depression, or unusual changes in mood or behavior. or swelling, trouble breathing, rash, hives, blisters, changes in eyesight including blurry vision, muscle pain with fever, tired feeling, or skin sores from diabetes. common side effects are dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain and swelling of hands, legs and feet. don't drink alcohol while taking lyrica. don't drive or use machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. those who have had a drug or alcohol problem

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we walked in to a meeting with the epa. their review of perk, which is one of the chemicals we were exposed to, pc, that was my

first time doing something like that. >> i'd like to welcome everyone. >> i'm sitting there, and then i start hearing some of the people on the panel. >> good afternoon. i'm speaking on behalf of the agency in new zealand. thank you for sharing with the panel some of our concerns about the toxicological review for tetrachloroethylene. >> i'm afraid i'm one of those special interests. the evidence linking exposure to tetrachloroethylene to cancers in humans is limited. >> i'm with general electric corporate environmental programs. i want an understanding how that study is evidence of anything. >> there was nobody else there from the public. it was just jerry and me. and here they are making

decisions that are going to affect my health and whether or not this chemical is going to be in my drinking water. it takes every dime i have to save up money to drive to jerry's house and ride with jerry to d.c. these people can fly in on jets. they're wearing armani suits. they have headquarters in d.c. how can the public compete with that? >> my intent for appearing here today is to ensure that science is allowed to do its work without human biases affecting the results. i can't say that for many of the other special interest groups whose motivations are driven by the all-mighty dollar and the others who are attempting to shirk their liabilities. well, we fully admit that this is a carcinogen to rats and other animals. yet we still just haven't tweaked that thing to where we could say it's a carcinogen to humans. the benefit of the doubt looks like it's going to go to the

chemical and not to protect public health. what is wrong with this picture? >> we have these groups of scientists who meet, and they decide, is it a human carcinogen, is it an animal carcinogen, and the decision is not just a scientific decision. it's a multi-billion dollar decision with multinational implications. because if you can delay in classifying something as a human carcinogen, you may be saving companies billions. >> camp lejeune is just the tip of the iceberg.

>> how far do they go beyond here? >> oh, say like maybe two, three miles. >> really? >> yeah. this was one of our first casualties in our neighborhood. and then across the street, we have another one. we put up another purple cross on this one here. >> this is your wife? >> yeah. she passed away three years ago. >> sorry. >> a lot of people are dying. >> the contamination moves under the houses, and it gets very hot here in san antonio in the summer. so it's particularly bad, you can actually smell it. and the houses act like tents. so when it comes up and vaporizes to the surface, it's

caught in the houses. >> they haven't done anything to help us out, the city, or the air force, or -- they'll stall you and stall you, and then you finally say, to hell with it. i'm not going to go out there and fight these people. you can't beat them, so you just give up. >> yeah, you can. >> come on, let's be realistic. they're not going to listen to you. >> i've been fighting this at camp lejeune for 12 years. and i'm not quitting. i asked an old commandant of the marine corps, i said, you know when i'm going to quit, either you do what's right by our people and live up to our motto, or when you pat me in the face with a shovel and blow taps over my dead ass. that's when i'm quitting. >> okay. >> i hate this damn finger pad. >> why didn't you bring your mouse? >> my mouse doesn't work without the keyboard, remember? >> no.

>> look here. all previous sampling in and around site 22 indicates petroleum-related products from tanks at this site are the only apparent source of contamination. somebody's ass is in trouble over this. >> we found documents related to a fuel spill that they never reported to anybody. they never even tried to clean it up. we always realized that there was something that the department of the navy and marine corps were hiding. but we had no idea the magnitude. and when we saw that, we said, oh, my god. >> the documents recently reviewed by the press revealed the contamination was far more extensive and deadly than previously assumed. >> massive leaks -- >> try to know more as folks like jerry ensminger -- it's a

known carcinogen. >> this ain't church, you guys. you guys can come up here to the front. we discovered they've estimated 1.1 million gallons of fuel had been lost out of the fuel farm. that was spilled, leaked into the ground at the fuel farm. >> are there any incidents or things that y'all were doing that in the back of your mind, that hey, there's something wrong with this? >> yeah. one of the times we would flush hydrants. i went to the fire hydrant one time and it almost knocked me down. my eyes were watering, it was like gasoline coming out of that thing. >> anytime they had rain, the vapors come up in this building. the fire department, we responded to the buildings quite regular.

>> was that reported up anywhere? >> i reported it to my captain. but where it went from there, i never knew no more about it. >> you knew something was wrong, that, you know, if i say something, it's my family. >> if you talk, you might not go nowhere. >> you don't question it. >> and you respect rank and do what you're told. >> would any of you be interested in speaking to an associated press reporter? >> yeah. >> this thing about the fuel, this is going to explode. ah. [ male announcer ] ...office space. yes, we're loving this communal seating. it's great. [ male announcer ] the best thing to share? a data plan. at&t mobile share for business. one bucket of data for everyone on the plan, unlimited talk and text on smart phones. now, everyone's in the spirit of sharing. hey, can i borrow your boat this weekend? no. [ male announcer ] share more. save more. at&t mobile share for business. ♪

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good evening. camp lejeune in jacksonville, north carolina, is the place where thousands of young marines -- >> in other news, a stunning and very upsetting admission today from the federal government. >> a form of cancer that might have come from the water they used every day. >> scientists and federal investigators now believe camp lejeune may be the worst example

of water contamination this country has ever seen. >> they were told to dump it, get rid of it. >> we weren't dumping toxic chemicals into the ground. >> really? >> we've got to get to the bottom of this. and that means congress is going to have to press the marine corps for answers. >> thank you. >> i mean that. >> thank you, i mean it. >> that's nice. a little more smile. that's good. beautiful. >> what kind of treatment did you have? >> they took off my right breast. >> i was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2003, and then i was diagnosed with prostate cancer. >> i had one son, he died right after he was born. he had holes in his heart. >> very rare for a man to get

breast cancer. >> everybody knows what it looks like by now. >> you're talking to somebody who's mad at the federal government, mad at the marine corps. that's why i'm here. >> ah! >> i just want to thank everybody for coming. right now, we've identified probably the single largest male breast cancer cluster that's ever been known. this project we're doing, the proceeds from the calendars are going to go for grant research to look into camp lejeune. not only for male breast cancer, but for other diseases. jerry, do you want to say anything? >> the guy who started it all. come on. [ applause ] >> you know, i'm just glad that i was able to help you people in this room. so semper fi. >> semper fi. [ applause ] >> relax a little bit. that's good. don't look stiff. that's good.

look at me. beautiful. >> wonderful. thank you. >> today's a big day. the house of representatives is introducing a bill. i was in my study, sitting behind my -- in front of my computer when they called me. quite an honor. >> good morning, and welcome. i'm very proud to be here to introduce the janey ensminger act. this bill is the next step in

providing justice to those who were affected by the toxic drinking water at camp lejeune. >> the janey ensminger act requires the department of veterans affairs to provide health care to the veterans and their families who served at camp lejeune during the period of water contamination. >> this will make it easier for marines and their families to receive disability compensation for their illness. >> jerry, to you and your family, thank you for the years of perseverance you have shown in getting us to where we are today. >> i am now pleased to introduce jerry ensmiger. jerry has been more relentless, more powerful than any paid lobbyist could ever be. >> good afternoon. i am the father of janey ensminger, the 9-year-old little girl for whom this bill's named. i can only surmise that had this

conduct been demonstrated by a private industry and not a department of defense entity, they would have most certainly found themselves in a federal courtroom long ago. it is my hope that some day soon, all of us will finally be allowed to achieve some much-needed closure and justice. may god bless janey, and may god bless you for bestowing this honor upon her. thank you. >> i carried the torch for this organization.

and i instilled in those kids our motto, semper fidelis, which means always faithful. it meant something to me that we take care of our own, and it meant something to those kids that i trained. i want this situation here to live in history, and in science, so that it never happens to anybody else again. >> congratulations, everybody. good work. thank you very much.

economic sabotage. let's play "hardball." good evening, i'm chris matthews. in washington, there's news tonight that some on the american right are plotting the global explosion of a default on the u.s. national debt this fall. the plot is to tie the regular vote to extend the debt ceiling to the obliteration of the affordable care act. according to the plans leaked to right-leaning news organizations, any measure to finance the health care act would detonate a refusal to make good on american debt.