Nick Mascolo and John Clemente navigated the dangerous jungles of Vietnam 35 years ago, but these days they travel the aisles of Kmart in search of deals on cartloads of underwear, T-shirts and socks.

The war veterans from Bergen County buy clothes to fill care packages for hundreds of young injured soldiers returning from Afghanistan and Iraq.

"Both John and I have spent time in military hospitals," said Mascolo, a 55-year-old hair salon owner who suffered severe shoulder injuries in Vietnam. "We've been keeping track of the wounded. We need to recognize the sacrifice that these people have made."

Mascolo of Northvale and Clemente of Englewood have raised about $12,000 in cash donations and about $30,000 worth of merchandise, and put together more than 200 care packages. They work out of the beauty salon Mascolo co-owns in Tenafly and call the effort, "Bold, Brave, Courageous."

In February and April, the pair delivered 160 small, wheeled suitcases packed with toiletries and clothes and music CDs to patients at the Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland, the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the Mologne House, a rehabilitation center, in Washington, D.C.

Tomorrow, they plan to drive a van to the hospitals to deliver additional 60 suitcases to wounded patients. Each suitcase is packed with a donor letter that included a name, phone number and message. Some were packed with touching letters from students at St. Joseph's School in Oradell.

U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett (R-5th Dist.) helped facilitate one of the trips and was in North Jersey to send them off. The items are appreciated by the recovering troops, according to Sgt. Leita Sosin, who works with families and patients at Walter Reed.

"The needs the patients have right now are the comfort items, the creature comforts, like CD players and DVDs," Sosin said.

According to the Pentagon, more than 17,000 men and women have been wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, with about half of those injured returning to duty.

"We really want to express to these men and women coming back that there is a country that hasn't forgotten about them," said another Vietnam War veteran who has contributed laptops and other items to Bold Brave Courageous.

The president of Canam Consulting in Mahwah, has offered technical training to any wounded soldier looking for a job. He remembers being turned down for work 30 years ago when he returned from Vietnam. He was told he was a "crazy" veteran.

"We don't want these soldiers to have wait 10 years for a parade, or 10 years to wait for people to welcome them back," he said.

Clemente and Mascolo began their organization after Clemente's son saw a Web site for wounded soldiers in January. They started small, but they're growing. They are awaiting nonprofit status from the government, and plan to launch a Web site in the coming weeks. They also hope to help wounded soldiers in the future get work.

The two men met eight years ago on Veterans' Day, and they are a regular comedic duo. They often finish each other's sentences with punch lines. But they are serious about the volunteer work they're doing.

"We don't go to the hospitals to tell war stories," said Clemente, a 57-year-old mortgage loan officer who suffered leg injuries in Vietnam. "We're there to create the best of a difficult situation."

For Mascolo and Clemente, the trip to the military hospitals in February was their first since the late 1960s.

Clemente, who served in the 25th Infantry Division in 1968, was shot through both legs with an AK-47 when his rifle platoon was ambushed in the jungle. He spent more than a month in Valley Forge General Hospital in Pennsylvania, where they put his leg back together with 36 piano wire sutures.

"I was lucky, I had extremely recuperative powers," he said.

Mascolo remembers that he was digging a foxhole somewhere near the Cambodian border when rockets and mortars rained down. Two soldiers jumped on top of him, and he dislocated both shoulders.

In their visits to amputees and soldiers with head wounds and other injuries, Mascolo said he is reminded of his own miserable three-month recuperation at a military hospital in Kansas, where he wore a body cast on for seven weeks and slept in a barracks room with 50 other men.

"It was brutal being in that cast," Mascolo said. "And it was lonely there."

Mascolo said he gets emotional when he sees wounded soldiers.

"I cry inside. It's painful. It's difficult to see a 20-year-old with no legs, and a wife and kid," Mascolo said.

Clemente said he won't cry. "Their spirit is indomitable," he said, describing soldiers' reactions. "They look you straight in the eye and say, 'Thank you.'"

To grab people's attention in Tenafly, Mascolo has parked an Army truck outside his salon with a sign seeking donations, in the middle of the upscale shopping district.

"This is a town and an area that has enjoyed the great freedoms and largess of American society," Clemente said. "We try to remind them that there's a small group of people who keep anyone from taking it all away."

To send donations to Bold, Brave, Courageous, call (201) 512-1680. Checks may be mailed to 1 Highwood Ave., Tenafly, N.J. 07670.

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