M14 Forum

Lewis

Did any of you guys ever have any up close encounters with any of the indigenous apes while on your tour in Vietnam. The only personal sightings I had of them was while we were running a load of ammo up the coast about 1/2 a mile from shore I could see these trees swaying back and forth. I got out the skip's high powered binocos and from what I could make out they were large apes, not orangytains but large brown-haired, bald faced bastards. The trees were pretty damned big with trunks a good foot or more in diameter, these apes would get them swaying so they could nearly touch down on either side. Someone told me they were called Rock Apes, I've never seen anything like them in any book, sorta like a baboon on steroids.
I've talked with guys about them and one of my buddies told me a story about a couple guys he knew that were up in a gun tower on duty, they heard something below and looked over the edge and here was this big ape digging through the C-Rat cans. One of the guys reached down and grabbed a fist-ful of spent 60 cartridges and winged a couple down until he bounced one off the ape's head...he said the ape went "ape-shit" runnin around grabbin his head, both guys were in hysterics. After the ape cooled down the other guy had to have a try and flung a couple down and sure enough binged one off the ape who again went into his antics, these guys were near pissin themselves laughin by now. The first guy has to do it again because the ape is so intent on those cans, diggin his finger in and eatin the stuff. He flings a couple more down but this time the ape climbs up the gun tower and after quite a ruckus, both guys end up getting their asses thrown out of the tower...end of story.

CAVman

ROCK APES...is what they were!!!

I Swear We Discussed This Once Here on the Forum several years ago...but the Thread seems to have disappeared...

Lot of Stories about Rock Apes, especially up in North-Eastern I Corp...
They Literally Would ATTACK Humans!
Really Scary Critters!


CAVman in WYoming

82nd ABN

Feel like I am walking in territory I should be considering I was not a soldier at the time but I was intrigued by your story and did a little surfing around and I found some interesting reading
http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com...howtopic=93065

Michael

We had a couple Rhesus and spider monkeys we kept in camp.

Nasty things.

CAVman

So..ARE Gorillas Wimps or Not ???



It's Interesting...On Any Forum, On Any Thread...It Always Seems There is a Guy or Two That Will HIJACK The Thread...and Fight It Out Until The Death!



CAVman in WYoming

CAVman

I had a Buddy in I Corp that had a Pet 'Monkey'...

All Was Fun and Games Until the Little Bassard Developed a 'Need' to Poop On My Buddy's Head !!!

(He Then Sold the Monkey BACK TO the Locals!)



CAVman in WYoming

Redneck

Mid. 65 We were in the Highlands and had moved into a Ville that had been vacated by the locals , after we had set up our permenter and had been there for a couple days , the monkey's started coming to the outside of our lines . Kept you on your toes at night , all they wanted was something to eat .

Lewis

Glad to hear somone else at least had some kind of experience with them big bastards, or at least heard about them. I never saw any in the Danang area, only the one time we were going North, Tan My or Chu Lai can't remember which one. We'd be sittin around tellin lies in a bunker, drinking or smoking dope and somebody would bring up the big apes. Another guy told a story about a guy he knew that went to the outhouse late one night, dark, no lights...finished his business and was reaching around for the paper when he grabbed a handful of hair...scared the livin shit outa him, the ape howled something dreadful he said, imagine that big bugger sitting there quiet as a ghost.
I saw a bug once that I could hear flying a good 50-75 yards off, I heard this odd buzzin noise, looked over in the area it was coming from and saw this "thing" flyin right towards me. I was up at the Harbormaster's office on the point overlooking Danang harbor, this thing flew straight at me, got closer, closer, and finally hit the wall of the building and landed on the deck. I walked over and stepped down on it enough to hear a crunch, then checked him out. It was orange and black, had big pincers, long legs, big wings, musta been 4"long as I remember and it looked like it had a stinger. I picked it up and took it inside and asked some of the guys if they had ever seen one...Nope....I went next door and asked the Navy Security guys and one of them said it was an "All Purpose Bug". He said they can fly, run, pinch and sting...it kind of reminded me of one of those huge wasps they have on some Japanese Island.

Mickey Miller

Encountered an Orangatang that was a house pet in a small village NW of Tay Nyhn. It was pretty big and we didn't get real close since it kept making aggressive moves. Probably there to hide a VC weapons cashe...it worked! We also found a 'pink elephant' up near the Cambodian border...real elephant that had rolled in red clay. Actually flew in a vet from Siagon...determined the elephant was very sick and had to be distroyed, but I did see a real 'pink elephant'!

MtScout

not directly related, but...

http://video.godlikeproductions.com/...fc30c9212ccddf

twospeed

1967-1968, I Corps, South of Chu Lai , Hill 55 right next to the 198th Lgt Inf bg and 11th arm cav.
They used to come up to the wire at night and throw rocks, at first we thought they were hand granades. Didn't know what they were at first, just saw their outlines in the dark. They were known as rock apes. When I think back, Disney land was the weirdest place I have ever been through/to.

DragonGunner

Wow...over the years I have written down thinngs my brother has told me about Nam..if an when, an only if he brings it up. This reminds me of something he told after coming back that I had forgotten until I saw this thread. I was about 8 but remember him telling Dad about these apes, can't remember if he called them Rock apes or Mt. apes....talked about having rocks thrown at them by them, he was up close to the DMZ.

junglejim

Old post I know. But one of my fondest (non combat) memories. Was 1981 in Panama (Ft Shermen's Jungle Warefare School) 2bn 504th PIR 82 ABRN . Out on maneuver's, at night (couldn't see your hand's, dark!) 50% security, live ammo,2man every ? 20meters? My Buddy just woke me up. I sat up, had my misquote net wrapped around me. Had my machete in hand listening to all the awesome noises in the jungle (I loved it! Probably cause no one was shootin at us!). I heard something scurrying up the small hill in front of me in tactical leaps and bounds, until I heard it basically fly through the air and pounce right on top of my buddy layin next to me. He was freakin out sceamin and fightin with who knows what, while I had my machete raised and wanting to hack at it. But knew I'd probably hack my Bud up. Then it bounded down the hill. My Bud and I were `what the F#$% was that? He was really freaked out and hyper ventilating, While I started laughing my ass of until I realized our C.O. had warned us, any noise and we'd be moving out again. I know our frackus was heard. But obviosly no one wanted to move out.
Still don't know what it was but it was good sized and not shy!

Butzbach

My brother told me about an 8" waterbug he saw while in a tower on guard duty in Plekiu (sp?) in 1968 after Tet. He saw the strangest things animal and otherwise while on guard duty.

XUSNORDIE

Monkeys! Watched a King Monkey shred a Marine 2nd Lt's hand in the Philippines! Going through JEST (Jungle Environmental Survival Training w/Fleet Spec Ops Trng Grp Det) with MARDET/MEU. The Nagrito instructors trapped some monkeys to teach us how to silently trap, dispatch, clean and cook a monkey. But Mr. Marine 2nd Lt. knew more than them...LOL....the monkey was trapped in the woven "cage", and sunk in the river to drown before cleaning. 2nd Lt. Marine (raised in the Ozarks and killed bear and pigs with his own hands!!! so he said) was tired of waiting...against instructors (laughing) wishes, he pulled up the trap, opened, and attempted to pull out the critter which he said was no different that a big rabbit......said critter sprang to life as Ozark Jarhead was spreading said critters legs, and firmly attached mouth to every part of the hand, wrist, fingers......

Standing joke as we dined on monkey that night was telling the MARDET/MEU that the LT tasted like rabbit.....