Camp Lejeune vets eligible to file claims

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

With a new rule providing a presumptive service connection for certain illnesses related to contaminated water at the U.S. Marine Corps training facility at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, the Van Wert County Veterans Service Office is now accepting claims from local veterans.

Effective March 14, the Veterans Administration is now accepting “presumptive” claims from veterans, reservists, or National Guard members who served at least 30 days (cumulative) at Camp Lejeune between August 1, 1953, and December 31, 1987, and who later developed one of the following eight illnesses:

• Adult leukemia
• Aplastic anemia and other myelodysplastic syndromes
• Bladder cancer
• Kidney cancer
• Liver cancer
• Multiple myeloma
• Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
• Parkinson’s disease

Veterans Service Officer Barry Johns noted that, while claims have been accepted since at least 2012 related to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune, the new presumptive service connection, similar to the Agent Orange presumptive for Vietnam veterans, would “presume” that those who served at Camp Lejeune who later develop one of the above illnesses did so because of the contaminated water there.

“I’m not quite sure the presumption will be the same as the Agent Orange presumptive, but our office will be helping local veterans file claims and assist them in finding related military records,” Johns said.

Veterans who consider filing a claim will need to provide medical records proving they have one of the above illnesses, while also providing military records showing they spent at least 30 days at Camp Lejeune.

For more information, call the local Veterans Service Office at 419.238.9592 or email vwvets@vanwertcounty.org.