Chapter 13
With the war going strong, Neville was away more than ever, and Porter poured herself into her son's life. Denise and Richard cautioned her about her lack of outside interests, but she ignored their warnings, and soon even Neville began to notice that young Clayton seemed to be smothering under his mother's devotion.
Neville's repeated suggestions, that they try to have another child, were not only ignored by Porter, but he discovered that she had been taking the birth control pill behind his back. Angered by this, he chose to not confront her, but instead replaced the pills with a placebo.
A stunned and confused Porter announced on Clayton's fifth birthday that she was once again with child. She couldn't tell Neville why this surprised her without revealing that she had been on birth control pills for a couple of years.
In January of 1968 Neville was sent on another mission that he could tell Porter nothing about. He was dropped behind enemy lines in Vietnam. Neville had received information that his contact would meet him in a small Vietcong village off the beaten track. He arrived for a meeting with his contact, and but unknown to him, a Navy SEAL team had received information that an NSA operative was going to be ambushed, and used as a bargaining chip against the U.S. government.
The SEAL's arrived to find the firefight had started without them. The Vietnamese contact was dead as were three of his co-conspirators. Unfortunately, the NSA agent had also been shot and the SEAL's arrived in time to find him bleeding to death. The Lieutenant in charge of the team patched him as best he could, using his own handkerchief as a tourniquet on the man's leg. Carrying him out of the village to the nearest open area, where a helicopter could land, the agent came around just as he was being strapped into the rescue helicopter.
"Thank you," he whispered to the SEAL. "For saving my life. What's your name?" he asked.
The helicopter was taking off as the man answered and Neville did not hear the name. He shouted, "How can I ever thank you?"
He pointed to Neville leg and shouted, "Return my handkerchief someday."
Nodding to him with a smile, Neville once again passed out.
Upon his return home, he told, and retold, the story of how he had been saved. The handkerchief became a treasure possession of the family.
Porter suggested that they honor the man who saved her husband's life by naming the baby she was carrying after him. They only had his initials to go by, they were embroidered on one corner of the handkerchief. Neville agreed.
Amy (Much love) Joy (Happy) Crystal (Pure) Webb was born May 2nd, l968, but unfortunately, due to complications of a very stressful birth, she died three days later on May 5th. When Porter found out that she couldn't have any more children after Amy's death, a depression set in, and devotion to Clayton became exclusive, even to the point that she began sleeping in his room.
It was during this time that Neville had an affair with his secretary. It was finally this, which made Porter realize, that if she wanted to save her marriage, she would have to pull herself together. Their marriage became stronger, and in August of the next year they faced together the loss of Denise and Richard during hurricane Camille.
(AUTHER'S NOTE: Several sources consider Hurricane Camille the largest single act of destruction in United States history (until Hurricane Andrew in 1992). To this day, Camille remains the most extreme meteorological event to take place in North America. Although there is some question as to the total death toll, the best estimates are - 255 people killed, and 8,900 injured. A number of people (50 - 75) were never found. Nearly 14,000 housing units were damaged, and 6,000 others were totally destroyed. The total damage from Camille was $4.2 billion (in 1969 dollars). As of the 2001 hurricane season, Camille remains the most intense hurricane to enter the United States mainland.)
Denise and Richard had gone out on their yacht to celebrate their anniversary and were never seen again.
To be continued…..