The sidewalks along one of Jacksonville’s busiest intersections were lined with mini American flags on Tuesday with names of victims of contaminated drinking water at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune who lost their lives too soon.
Survivors of exposure to toxic water at Camp Lejeune, which spanned from August 1953 to December 1987, came from states like Virginia, South Carolina, Alabama and as far as Michigan to help spread the word about the contamination and to advocate for justice.
“There needs to be more awareness,” said Marine Corps veteran Joyce Holzworth of why she attended. “People are dying [and] the VA is just turning their backs on us.”
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Maynard “Lee” Sinclair, Sr. joined the U.S. Marine Corps right out of high school. He fought two tours in Vietnam, survived the Beirut bombing in 1983 and trained troops for the Gulf War, even after retirement. Lee loved serving his country for 24 years, but his family feels like their country has let them down.
Last summer, Lee got ill and suffered more than a handful of heart attacks in a two-month span while hospitalized.
“When he was in the hospital, they couldn’t figure out why he was having so many heart attacks,” said Sam Via, Lee’s daughter.
Based on his military records, a cardiologist determined his heart was poisoned by Agent Orange from Vietnam and by the water at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, where Sam and her family lived soon after she was born from 1976 to 1987.