Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune[1] (/ləˈʒɜːrn/ lə-ZHURN or /ləˈʒuːn/ lə-ZHOON)[2][3] is a 246-square-mile (640 km2)[4] United States military training facility in Jacksonville, North Carolina.

Its 14 miles (23 km) of beaches make the base a major area for amphibious assault training, and its location between two deep-water ports (Wilmington and Morehead City) allows for fast deployments.

Camp Lejeune encompasses 156,000 acres, with 18 kilometers of beach capable of supporting amphibious operations, 32 gun positions, 48 tactical landing zones, three state-of-the-art training facilities for Military Operations in Urban Terrain and 80 live fire ranges to include the Greater Sandy Run Training Area.

After the military was ordered to fully integrate, Montford Point was renamed Camp Gilbert H. Johnson and became the home of the Marine Corps Combat Service Support Schools.

On May 10, 1996, two helicopters performing a joint United States/British training exercise collided and crashed into a swampy wooded area, killing fourteen and injuring two.

In mid-September 2018, Hurricane Florence damaged IT systems and over 900 buildings in the camp, leading to a $3.6 billion repair cost.

[7][8] From at least 1953 through 1987, Marines and their families at Lejeune drank and bathed in water contaminated with toxicants at concentrations 240 to 3,400 times permitted by safety standards.

[11] VOC contamination of groundwater can cause birth defects and other ill health effects in pregnant and nursing mothers.

[17] Following the bill's passage in the U.S. Senate, President Biden's White House made a celebratory statement that included mention of Camp LeJeune victims.

[18] There were constitutional taxation problems with the amended version and a "blue slip"[19] was issued causing the matter to return to the U.S. House.

[25] The language of Section 804 provides for monetary relief for those injured by exposure to the Camp Lejeune base and its toxic water.

The multi-district litigation, MDL-2218, was dismissed on North Carolina statute of repose grounds on December 5, 2016,[28] and the appeal to the 11th Circuit failed (Straw, et.

[29] A U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June 2014 potentially curbed groundwater contamination lawsuits by families at Camp Lejeune.

[10] Andrew Straw is pursuing his own infant brain injury pro se and as estate executor for the wrongful death of his mother from a Camp LeJeune cancer.

The Federal Circuit also refused to consider the misapplication of the North Carolina Statute of Repose as being a taking of private property.

The new 2022 law provides a catch-all "otherwise exposed" inclusive provision so such exclusion for sleeping off base cannot be used to deny the relief.

On March 8, 2010, Paul Buckley of Hanover, Massachusetts, received a 100 percent, service connected disability from the Department of Veterans Affairs for cancer (multiple myeloma), which was linked to toxic water exposure on Camp Lejeune.

[42] In 2007, Jerry Ensminger, a retired Marine master sergeant, found a document dated 1981 that described a radioactive dump site near a rifle range at the camp.

[46] The Estate of Straw's mother also has a claim pending at U.S. Navy JAG Code 15 for her wrongful death from breast cancer.

2024) (DENIED)[47] One of the DOJ lawyers involved in denial of relief under FTCA in MDL-2218, Adam Bain, has appeared again in CLJA case filings.

[49] Each plaintiff is required to submit a short form complaint using a template provided by the Court at pages 14–18 of its Case Management Order #2.

[52] In 2024 The U.S. Navy received over 546,500 claims for compensation from people impacted by the contaminated water at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune that were submitted by the August 10, 2024, deadline.

[53] In July 2012, the U.S. Senate passed a bill, called the Janey Ensminger Act in honor of retired Marine Master Sergeant Jerry Ensminger's daughter Janey who died of cancer at age 9, authorizing medical care to military and family members who had resided at the base between 1957 and 1987 and developed conditions linked to the water contamination.

[56] The bill applies to 15 specific ailments believed to be linked to the contamination, including cancer of the esophagus, lung, breast, bladder or kidney; leukemia; multiple myeloma; myleodysplasic syndromes; renal toxicity; hepatic steatosis; female infertility; miscarriage; scleroderma; and/or neurobehavioral effects or non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

[58][40] (Straw was born at Camp LeJeune Naval Hospital and had base access for 19 months but was denied health care for a condition—bipolar disorder—PCE doubles the chance of contracting).

[62] Another ATSDR mortality study showed that the risk of death from Camp LeJeune exposure and diseases was elevated.