AllMovie

In 1970, Jerry Ensminger joined the United States Marine Corps, and he made a career in the military, supporting his wife and family as he rose to the rank of Master Sergeant and becoming a drill instructor at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. Ensminger lost his daughter to a rare form of leukemia when she was only nine years old, and in the wake of her death he learned that there was a remarkably high incidence of cancer and birth defects among those stationed at Camp Lejeune and their families. Ensminger and Michael Partain, a former Marine who was stationed at Camp Lejeune and battled male breast cancer, began investigating the startling health statistics at the camp and learned the USMC was keeping a deadly secret -- carcinogenic contaminants had been dumped into the base's water supply for years, and while the Corps were aware of the dangers, they opted to keep the situation quiet. Filmmakers Rachel Libert and Tony Hardmon chronicle Ensminger's search for the truth and his mission to get the Marine Corps he served with honor and dedication for more than two decades to do the right thing for their men and women in the documentary Semper Fi: Always Faithful. The film received its world premiere at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival, where it received the award for best editing in a documentary feature.