Ron Poirier dumped hundreds of gallons of toxic solvents in the 1970s as a Marine electronics technician at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. The chemicals seeped into the drinking water. The cancer that killed him in May 2013 was among the diseases afflicting Marines and local residents as a result of the toxins. He told the Associated Press before he died that he felt it was a retribution for his guilt.
“When judgment day comes, you know,” he said, “I hope those people that suffered … realize that I didn’t know what I was doing.”
