To read about this mission go to My year in Vietnam by Patrick Bieneman
Posted in: Missions
Mission Number 6
Posted on February 14, 2010
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Charlie Troop 1st Squadron 9th Cavalry Regiment 
John Wands Sacca
August 7, 2012
A 10,000 lb “Daisy Culler” was dropped to create the LZ. It sheered and splintered the trees several feet from the ground. The LZ was a large depression surrounded by a long perimeter. At best, it was a bad position to defend. Fortunately, we were with elements of Delta Troop. Their three 81 mm mortal tubes would be critical to the defense of this position. We set up an antenna as a relay for an infantry unit in the area we had come to support. And it began raining. The Monsoon rain was unforgiving and unrelenting. Lieutenant Ungaro not only risked his life to resupply us, but he evacuated at least one casualty. One of our grenadiers had been wounded by a M79 round that bounced off a tree and hit him. It was still raining on the tenth day, when we were ordered to walk off the mountain. All excess munitions and the tubes were destroyed. We slipped on the rocks of the stream bed we followed, and leaches rained down on us from the foliage above. About half way down the mountain, we came upon an NVA Regular. He was sitting at a small fire, reading. When he pulled up his poncho, for whatever reason, an M-60 cut him down. An M79 shot gun round missed him entirely. We walked past his body. It laid flung back on a tree trunk and blood ran out his mouth. A “death card” had been left on the corpse as a token. As we continued, we passed out replacements coming up the stream bed. At the end of the day we reached bottom. I collapsed and slept until morning, when a Chinook came in to pick up the Delta troopers. Our acting Blue, a captain from staff who spent exactly 30 days with the Blues, remarked that we had “come in as cavalry, and would go out as cavalry.” So we sat down and waited for the Charlie Troop lift ships to arrive. On returning to Camp Evans, I reported to the aid station because I was covered with leach bites. Thereafter, I cleaned my weapon and myself. That afternoon, the Blues were ordered to report to the flight line for yet another mission. Only a few of us bothered to go down. The mission was cancelled and assigned to another troop. Physically at least, we were in no shape for another combat assault.
Laura Ungaro
February 16, 2013
What a nightmare…….. We are interested in any other information you may have regarding Lt. Ungaro. Any other pictures, stories. He was our brother, and he did not tell us of his experiences. Our Mother found his medals long after he returned from Viet Nam. He loved our country and was glad he was able to do what he could at the time. After returning from Nam, he was productive, contributing member to our community, had two children—his daughter became an Air Force officer. He was building an apartment complex he and his brothers owned when he died. About 500 people attended his funeral. Thanks.
Laura Ungaro
patrickbieneman
February 16, 2013
Laura,
Your Brother Jim was Hero to men like me. I don’t know if you understand what our mission as a unit was or not. We were the 1st Cavalry Divisions Recon. Jim flew in a small helicopter known as an OH-13. He and a team of two enlisted men flew trying to find the enemy. They flew very low and very slow. The one thing that I will always remember and honor him for followes: We had been flown to a mountain top. Shortly after we moved in so did the rains. We were suppose to be there for 3-4 days. On the seventh day our food was gone, our ammunition was low and the batteries that we needed to operate our radio were almost useless. Several times they had tried to get supplies to us but they couldn’t. Jim had his two enlisted men get out of his helicopter and then had it loaded with food, ammo and the battries. The fog was so thick that Jim flew with the skids of his helicopter touching the tree tops as he ascended the mountain. As he neared us I called him on the radio and I would give him a count. He would listen to my count and determine which way to move to find us. As he got over the top of us the skies opened up a little. He hovered his helicopter off of the ground as the ammo and all was unloaded. Then he lifted back up and the skies closed again. He used the same manner of flight as he descended the mountain. It has his courage and his love for his fellow man that made him so special and really saved the day for us. I will notify several others who knew Jim and ask them to add their comments. If you want to talk to any of them just ask and I know they will be very happy to answer you by email or even by Phone. If you will tell me what state you live in I may be able to find someone from that state.
I consider your brother Jim to be a Hero, a Copmrade in Arms and a Brother.
Thank you for responding to my blog. I am trying to honor all of the men I served with. If you or anyone has a story about Jim that you would like to share with us please type it and send it to my email address and I will post it to my blog on his post. My email is; pcbnamin@verizon.net
Laura Ungaro
February 16, 2013
Thank you, Patrick! I REALLY appreciate the information. He was our hero, too. He was a wonderful brother, son and father. God knows he was interesting. He went into the Army at 18 and was the youngest officer commissioned at Ft. Knox at the time. He was on the “Major’s List” when he resigned his commission at 26. When he was mustering out of the Army, he was at Ft. Hood. I was at TX A&M at College Station. I dropped out of school and we, he and I, stayed in San Antonio for a while and sold land at Angel Fire, NM to soldiers. It was a ton of fun. We water skied all day, ate catfish and hushpuppies and worked in the evenings. Did very well. He was an amazing salesman.
We would ALL like to know whatever we can about him. He went in the Army while I was in college. He returned to Las Vegas in about 1973. In ’73 we were in San Antonio. His wife and son joined us from Florida. I left after the summer and they followed a few months later to Las Vegas. He went to work dealing craps at Caesar’s Palace where my other brother worked dealing Baccarat. They went into the construction business together. His daughter was born in 1973. I think I told you she became an Air Force Captain, married a fighter pilot and had two children. She resigned her commission after about 10 years. She is still married and living all over the world with her husband and kids.
Over the years,I bought every book with pictures in it about the Viet Nam war. I watch every TV show hoping to catch a glimpse of him. This is the first picture of him. All we had were snapshots from while he lived in Las Vegas that showed nothing. So this picture is treasured. I’m going to have a friend work on it in Photoshop and see what can be done with it. We have no others. Nothing was ever the same after he died. So, you have certainly brightened our day. I, my sister and one brother live in Las Vegas where we all grew up and/or were born. One brother lives in northern CA in Redding. We would love to catch up with anyone who knew him!
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Hugs,
Laura Ungaro
patrickbieneman
February 16, 2013
Laura,
I contacted a Bruce Huffman who was probably closer to Jim than anyone else in Vietnam. I am also hoping to hear from a couple of enlisted men who flew with him. Bruce is planning on sending you a personal email. I think one of the men that flew with Jim lives close to Reno.
I started my blog to honor all of the men that served in C Troop 1st Squadron 9th Cavalry Regiment. I am proud to say that through this blog I have been able to connect family members with men who knew their loved one. I am so happy to see that I will be able to help you and your family, Take the time to read about some of the post on the men who were Killed in Action. Read the one about John Jelich aD the one about David Kink.
If you don’t have the Certificates that show what Jim did to earn his medals I can help ypu get them. If any of the medals are missing I can help you get them as well.
God Bless you all. I thank you for bringing sunshine to my life through your comments.
A Friend,
Pat
Laura Ungaro
February 17, 2013
Thank you, Pat. I am looking forward to hearing from Mr. Huffman. How do I find the posts on the men who died? I remember Jim telling us about a gunner who was paralyzed from a shot from underneath the helicopter. He kept in touch with the gunner until Jim died. I know he was notified when he died. I would like to look up those posts. Never been on a blog before~~~ P.S. Where are you located?
Laura
patrickbieneman
February 17, 2013
Laura,
I understand that Bruce is travelling right now. I know he is looking forward to talking to you. I don’t know if you receieved an email from him or not but he and Jim were very close and they went on R&R together. R&R is Rest and Relaxation.
To view those two post and any of the others I have on there, when you get to the first page go over to the right hand side. Go down a little and click on any of the letters. The two I referenced are under J-K.
I will look because I think I may have some other pictures of Jim. If Not I will send an email to all of the guys and see if any of them have some.
Have a Great Day,
Pat.
P.S. I live just south of Tampa Florida. Phone number 813-633-2491
Laura Ungaro
February 17, 2013
How do I thank you? Mr. Huffman has contacted me and says he will get back to me soon. Apparently he is traveling. Thank you for your number. I will contact you shortly, if you don’t mind. My number is (702) 248-6556. My brother Mark was zipped at the hip with Jim (we called him Giac [Jock] an Italian version of James. GiacandMark were one word til Jim went into the Army and then immediately upon his return to Las Vegas. He will be very interested in getting in on the conversation. We all will! It’s been a long 30 years since we knew anything about Jim.
Thank you again.
Laura
patrickbieneman
February 17, 2013
Laura,
All the Thanks I need from you is for you and your family to be happy. I hope that by finding this site and being able to talk to the people who flew with Jim true happiness will be yours. However, if you have a picture of Jim with his family and maybe even a picture of him and you and your brother I would love to be able to get a copy so I can insert intyo his Post. Maybe in a year or two my wife. Carol, and I can come to Las Vegas to meet you. I would like that.Enjoy this site and enjoy the comments from the men who knew Him so well.
Love, Peace and Happiness to you and yours.
Pat
Laura Ungaro
February 17, 2013
Hi Pat!
Oddly, we have very few pictures of him in which you can actually see his face! We have lots of pics of him and Mark building stuff, but no portrait type pics. We have no pics that I know of with his children except when they were babies. The older one was 10 when Jim died and the second was 9. They were all living in FL when he died and we haven’t seen much of them since. They did come to my mother’s funeral in 1993. That’s the last time I saw my nephew and the daughter comes to town when her husband has something at Nellis AFB. She was here a couple of years ago. Long, slender pretty blonde. Lovely girl. I will look for pictures and see what I come up with.
When you and your wife come to town, you might consider staying here. God knows I have room and I’m within walking distance from the Strip! You can think about that. Rooms and food can be inexpensive or very expensive and all points in between. That’s up to you to decide. But there are rooms at Palace Station for $40! Nice rooms in a nice hotel. I have a friend who lived and worked here for three years and lived in hotel rooms the entire time! It was cheaper to do that than rent an apartment! So, I know for sure about all that!
Heard from Bruce. He will get back to me. Looking forward to talking with him.
How did you put together such a wonderful web site? Very impressive! I noticed you use WordPress. A friend had recommended that to me at one time. Never followed up on it. Now I must.
Have to run. Will get back to you!
Laura
patrickbieneman
February 17, 2013
Laura,
It is okay if you don’t. How about a picture of you and his brother? I can post that and explain how we got together. Staying with you sounds good. I will wait for you to get back with me,
Pat
patrickbieneman
February 17, 2013
A fellow Charlie Trooper, Rob Struck, had a blog. I liked what I saw and wanted to make one of my own. Rob got me to WordPress and I just began writing. Sometimes it was about memories and sometimes just what came to my mind. It is easy to write Charlie Troop.
Laura Ungaro
February 17, 2013
You make it sound so easy. I will have to go to wordpress.com and check it out!
Laura
Laura Ungaro
February 17, 2013
I don’t know how to attach a picture here. I have figured out how to do that with email, but I’m not on facebook or any of the others. Do you have a direct email address?
Laura
patrickbieneman
February 17, 2013
Laura,
Use my email address. pcbnamin@verizon.net .