In 1964, U.S. Marine Peter Optekar, stationed at Camp Lejeune military base in North Carolina, met the woman of his dreams.

In 1986, Audrey Williams Pride laid her infant son to rest. She blamed herself for his death—but it was actually the government’s fault. The authorities at Camp Lejeune, the North Carolina Marine Corps base Audrey called home, had contaminated the drinking water.

Between 1953 and 1987 at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina more than 1 million military and civilian staff and their families lived and worked on base and were unknowingly exposed to contaminated water.