Veterans have urged the Ministry of Defence to contact those who may have developed cancer after being exposed to contaminated water.
In October the Sunday Express revealed that up to a million military veterans may have suffered from serious illness after staying at Camp Lejeune, a United States Marines Base.
Though most are American, thousands of British service personnel were also regularly deployed to the base in North Carolina from 1953 to 1988, when its water sources were systematically contaminated.
In August US president Joe
Biden allowed former servicemen who became seriously ill to apply for compensation.
Last night a British veteran told how he contracted both bladder and prostate cancer at the base.
He said: “My life changed completely, I’ve lived from day to day. I should have been told years ago. But neither the MoD or the Army has ever been in touch to explain things or tell us that we might be at risk.”
The former Warrant Officer, who did not want to be named, spent three months at the camp in 1985 as part of a British Army training team.
The base’s water supplies contained toxins up to 3,400 times levels permitted by safety standards after two water treatment plants were found to contain 70 chemicals.
These included dry cleaning solvents and degreasers used to clean military equipment, plus fuel from underground storage tanks.
The 66-year-old grandfather, who served for 25 years, said: “We should be contacted by the MoD and told about the risks this water has had on our health and what the ailments are.”
The Ministry of Defence has been approached for comment.
