A retired Marine reservist from Harlem who spent months fighting for recognition alongside thousands of other veterans allegedly poisoned by toxic water while serving at Camp Lejeune has died, his family said.
Richard Corley suffered esophageal cancer and was battling a tumor next to his pancreas when he entered hospice care several months ago, two of his three kids told The Post. He was 66.
His June 23 death at Calvary Hospital in the Bronx came 16 months after he filed a claim with the federal government, seeking compensation for the illness he believed was caused by the water at the famed US Marine base in Jacksonville, NC.
“If he’d had some resources, there were some things on his bucket list he never got a chance to complete,” said son Royce Corley, recalling how he’d gotten his passport and wanted to travel to visit family in the Caribbean. “He never got a chance.’
His case “now goes to a wrongful death claim, and because of that he’s entitled to more compensation but it’s bittersweet,” the son added. “I’d rather have my father be alive to see that justice be done.”
Corley, who first served at Camp Lejeune in 1982, attained the rank of gunnery sergeant and worked in real estate until he became ill.
His final days were spent in “excruciating pain,” but Corley “was still fighting. He was still tough,” his son said.
Sick and dying veterans such as Corley thought help finally arrived in August 2022, when Congress passed the Camp Lejeune Justice Act, which allowed those diagnosed with one of 15 different illnesses who served at the base from 1953 to 1987 to file a claim with the US Navy, and to sue if the claim is rejected or ignored.
As many as a million military members, their families and civilian staffers are believed to have been exposed to contaminated water for decades.
To date, more than 500,000 claims have been filed with the US Department of Justice — but so far less than 500 have been settled, according to Corley’s lawyers, who noted hundreds of veterans have died while waiting for compensation.
“This shouldn’t be just thrown to the wayside because he is deceased,” said Corley’s daughter Chantel. “They can rectify it properly and lay this to rest as it needs to be. There are other people who are effected by this.”
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