More than two years later, Porta says, "I found my place."
Porta, 28, a medically retired Marine corporal, stumbled upon this northernmost Virginia village in the windy, rolling countryside 55 miles from the nation's capital nearly two years ago. His head, face and much of his body were horribly scarred by a fiery roadside bomb attack in Iraq in 2007 that killed two other Marines. He lost his right arm and was left with only a few gnarled fingers on his left hand.
But in Lovettsville, Porta has been embraced without reservation.
The pinnacle of acceptance comes this Fourth of July weekend as Porta, his wife, son and mother settle into a state-of-the-art "smart" home built by grateful donors on a hill just outside the town limits. "I found the place where I want to spend the rest of my life," he said Wednesday as he watched the finishing touches put to his new home.
A town procession of a color guard, motorcycle escort and local dignitaries will formally deliver Porta and his family to the doorstep of his new house from another he's rented in Lovettsville since 2013. "It's become obviously a major event," said Mike Chapman, sheriff of surrounding Loudoun County, who plans to ride his motorcycle. "Everybody jumped on board."
Lovettsville Mayor Robert Zoldos heralded the celebration for "our adopted hometown hero" in his newsletter.
Before settling in this town, Porta's struggle to re-integrate into American society was emblematic of thousands of scorched, dismembered or emotionally distressed veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars returning to a country where only a tiny fraction of the population has personal experience with the military. Surveys showed an empathy gap separating most of the nation's residents from those who serve in
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