Monkey ambush

Blackhorse base camp was about 30 miles east of Saigon, and 10 miles south of Xuan Loc. Rubber trees covered several kilometers northeast, east, south and west of the base camp.

On a night in January 1967, Third Squad set up an ambush in the rubber trees south of base camp. There were narrow dirt roads through the plantation, easing movement of workers as well as trucks that picked up sap gathered daily from each tree. Because the roads were also easy movement routes for Viet Cong guerrillas, American forces often emplaced squad-size ambush patrols in the plantations.

On that January night, the squad leader placed his soldiers to cover a road intersection. Weapons for the ambush included one M60 machine gun, two M79 grenade launchers and seven M16 rifles.

On that night, however, an incident occurred, making the ambush one of the most unusual in the annals of the war in Vietnam. The incident was of short duration, but of sufficient length to forever imprint itself in the mind of one soldier, John Connors.

Connors was an average soldier. He did not go out of his way to do things any better than any other average soldier. Connors did not have high scores in rifle qualification or in physical training tests. He was there; he did his job.

That night, with Claymore anti-personnel mined placed to give good coverage in the squad kill zone, Connors settled in beside a rubber tree in the tall grass.

Suddenly, a loud scream sounded through the trees as a large male monkey jumped onto Connors’ back and began humping his backpack, small, also known as a “buttpack.” The monkey went after Connors with vigor and intent. Connors was screaming as loud as had the monkey, but Connors’ words were understandable – “Get that fucking thing off me!” Then, the monkey was gone, as quickly as it appeared, leaving behind a shaken, nervous, violated Army soldier.

Next day, and for some time after, other soldiers asked of Connors, “Hey, Connors! Your monkey friend got a sister?”