Lejeune water documentary receives standing ovation

An award-winning new documentary about a search for answers regarding a period of water contamination aboard Camp Lejeune received standing ovations at a screening recently inside the U.S. Capitol.

The film, Semper Fi: Always Faithful, tells the story of Onslow County resident and former Camp Lejeune Marine Jerry Ensminger, who began a single-minded fight to learn the truth after he discovered that a three-decade period of water contamination in base housing areas could be responsible for the leukemia death of his 9-year-old daughter Janey in 1985.

It was screened on June 23 by Rep. Brad Miller, D-NC, and Sen. Richard Burr, R-NC, and sponsored by Sen. Kay Hagan, D-NC, and Rep.John Dingell, D-MI, all endorsers of legislation that would grant care through the department of Veterans Affairs to former Lejeune troops and family members affected by exposure to base water.

Miller, who introduced the film, said he had been won to the cause by the persistence and dedication of advocates like Ensminger.

“I hope you — I’m not sure enjoy is the right word — I hope you are moved by the experience of this movie,” he said.

Filmmakers Rachel Libert and Tony Hardmon followed Ensminger; former base resident and male breast cancer survivor Mike Partain; and others affected by the tainted water for four years, watching as their persistence leads to new revelations about the contamination timeline and garners interest from Congress and the national media.

Ensminger proves a powerful narrator, staring into the lens with deep-set, steel-blue eyes frequently filled with unabashed emotion.

Libert said it was Ensminger’s charisma as well as the story that led to the making of the film.

“We were initially intrigued, and we came here to meet Jerry and check it out,” she said. “We realized within a day of following him that not only was it an important story, but he was a compelling storyteller.”

Apart from Ensminger’s reminiscences about Janey, the film’s greatest moments of pathos come as 40-year-old former Lejeune Marine Denita McCall tearfully relates her recent diagnosis of cancer and in a 2007 public forum held in Wilmington filled with outraged and ill former residents of Lejeune.

“I blamed myself for years before this came out,” one woman said, holding the onesie of her dead infant. “I hated myself, I hated my body. I thought I had failed my children.”

Following the film, Ensminger and Partain thanked legislators in attendance for their bipartisan support of Camp Lejeune veterans and answered audience questions about the project and their own experiences.

The documentary, which won an audience award and a prize for best editing at the Tribeca Film Festival, also completed two packed showings at the SilverDocs festival in Maryland recently.

Contact military reporter Hope Hodge at 910-219-8453 or hhodge@freedomenc.com.