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    The Greatest Beer Run Ever: A Memoir of Friendship, Loyalty, and War
    The Greatest Beer Run Ever: A Memoir of Friendship, Loyalty, and War
    The Greatest Beer Run Ever: A Memoir of Friendship, Loyalty, and War
    Audiobook5 hours

    The Greatest Beer Run Ever: A Memoir of Friendship, Loyalty, and War

    Written by John "Chick" Donohue and J. T. Molloy

    Narrated by Malcolm Hillgartner

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    About this audiobook

    “Chickie takes us thousands of miles on a hilarious quest laced with sorrow, but never dull. You will laugh and cry, but you will not be sorry that you read this rollicking story.”—Malachy McCourt

    Soon to be a major motion picture written and directed by Peter Farrelly, who won two Academy Awards for Green Book—a wildly entertaining, feel-good memoir of an Irish-American New Yorker and former U.S. marine who embarked on a courageous, hare-brained scheme to deliver beer to his pals serving Vietnam in the late 1960s.

    One night in 1967, twenty-six-year-old John Donohue—known as Chick—was out with friends, drinking in a New York City bar. The friends gathered there had lost loved ones in Vietnam. Now, they watched as anti-war protesters turned on the troops themselves.

    One neighborhood patriot came up with an inspired—some would call it insane—idea. Someone should sneak into Vietnam, track down their buddies there, give them messages of support from back home, and share a few laughs over a can of beer.

    It would be the Greatest Beer Run Ever.

    But who’d be crazy enough to do it?

    One man was up for the challenge—a U. S. Marine Corps veteran turned merchant mariner who wasn’t about to desert his buddies on the front lines when they needed him.

    Chick volunteered.

    A day later, he was on a cargo ship headed to Vietnam, armed with Irish luck and a backpack full of alcohol. Landing in Qui Nho’n, Chick set off on an adventure that would change his life forever—an odyssey that took him through a series of hilarious escapades and harrowing close calls, including the Tet Offensive. But none of that mattered if he could bring some cheer to his pals and show them how much the folks back home appreciated them.

    This is the story of that epic beer run, told in Chick’s own words and those of the men he visited in Vietnam.

    Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateNov 10, 2020
    ISBN9780063017276
    Author

    John "Chick" Donohue

    John “Chick” Donohue joined the United States Marine Corps at the age of seventeen, then became a Merchant Mariner after his discharge. After the war, he became a Sandhog, or tunnel builder, and eventually became the Legislative and Political Director of Sandhogs, Local 147, Laborers International Union of North America., and graduated from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government He is married to Theresa “Terri” O’Neil.

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    Reviews for The Greatest Beer Run Ever

    4/5

    150 ratings17 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Human kindness is never anything less than inspiring. A great story, well told!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Great book. Informative, interesting, funny, heartbreaking. The author sounds like a good time.
    • 5/5
      Not your typical non-fiction war story but an excellent book.
    • 4/5
      What a wonderfully improbable adventure. Every veteran deserves a friend like this man. I hope I run into Chick Donohue in a bar one day so I can buy him a beer. Put a copy in your next holiday care package to a deployed soldier.
    • 4/5
      How many times have you sat at the bar drinking with friends and come up with crazy ideas that you want to do? Well, this is one of those times for John "Chick" Donohue. Somehow him and his friends decide that he should head over to Vietnam, during the war mind you, and bring some good American beer to their friends serving over there. And he does it. The situations he gets himself into and the efforts he goes to boggle the mind. Mark Twain was right when he said truth is stranger than fiction! This is a great book to give to guys who say they do not like to read. Or give to anyone who likes true adventures or history.
    • 5/5
      It’s a bit odd, sure, maybe even a bit dangerous, for a recovering alcoholic to be reviewing a book titled The Greatest Beer Run Ever. Especially when said recovering alcoholic works in the field of addiction recovery. But human kindness is always inspiring. However, if you are new to recovery, then this tale may be a trigger for you. Or maybe if your sobriety isn’t on the most solid foundation, you set the book aside until you have that shored up. It is by no means a “drunk-a-log,” but better safe than sorry. Likewise, if you have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) related to your military service, you may also want to use caution. A crazy merchant marine walks into a bar… sounds more like the start of a bad joke than a great story, but wait; there’s more. He’s also a crazy former United States Marine, and this bar happens to be his neighborhood bar filled with a lifetime’s friends, many of them veterans of one stripe or another. As was the case in bars all over New York’s five boroughs in 1968, veterans were watching the news, lamenting the protests taking place all over America and worrying about the impact it would have on their friends still serving in Vietnam. What those guys needed were a beer and a hug! And that’s when Chick Donohue opens his big mouth, and our story begins. A remarkable story it is! Rather than me telling you about it, read it from Chick’s own lips. Poignant, inspiring, joyful, humorous, and sad, this beer run is all of those and more. It’s a reminder that as great as our nation is, and the lengths we will go to defending her, and her flag, who we are truly standing up and fighting for is one another.
    • 4/5
      Interesting memoir, lots of information about the Vietnam war, places, people and experiences. I enjoyed reading it. Looking forward to the movie version of this book.
    • 5/5
      Chickie becomes the volunteer to make a beer run to his friends and neighbors serving in Vietnam during the war. As a merchant marine he has an easier time traveling the world until he gets to Vietnam and starts tracking down his buddies from Inwood in NYC. He manages to escape detection by the military brass but he ends up in some straits as he travels through Vietnam. I enjoyed this book. I had to shake my head at times as he travels throughout Vietnam during the war. I liked the personal aspect of the book and his insights into his trip, meeting his buddies, and being caught in the middle of the Tet Offensive. I also appreciated his chapter at the end about how his perceptions changed on the anti-war demonstrators and the government's "truth." I liked knowing what happened to the different men after the war and their stories. Very interesting and worth reading!
    • 4/5
      I know this really happened, but it seems so unbelievable and by the end you’ll feel much better than when you started the book and realized it’s about the Vietnam War. After a night of talking and drinking, it was decided that Chickie Donohue, a merchant marine, would head to Vietnam with good beer and messages to soldiers from the New York neighborhood. Yes, it is a macho book but the message he took to surprised soldiers from the Inwood gang in the US. It’s was an experience to counterbalance the protests that were so common, but on his return, he realized that the protesters “were at least trying to stop this madness.” The story moves from the humorous to sadness and always filled with the outrageous. And Donohue also lets the reader know what happened to the guys. The narration of the audio version is done perfectly. Soon to be a movie
    • 4/5
      "The Greatest Beer Run Ever" is an engaging story of friendship, loyalty, pluck, determination, and oh so much of the 1960s. Authors John Donahue and J.T. Molloy paint a wonderful mural of words in describing the former's literal beer run from his home in NYC to his buddies serving in Vietnam. It's a crazy tale, and well worth the read. However ... in these days of mis- and dis-information, this era of false facts, I do wonder how much of this tale actually happened as it did. I mean, I get that Vietnam was saturated with Americans in the waning days of 1967 - troops, brass, support staff of all kinds, business people, contractors, con artists, etc., etc., etc. ... but man, doesn't Donohue run into a buddy immediately at every dock or camp he shows up at. I dig liteary license, making a story flow and everything, it was just slightly off-putting. But in fairness, this itch of mine isn't so much Donohue as it is Molloy, the co-author. He uses the book's Introduction to tell us about Donohue: "He [Donohue] was later accepted at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government [KSG] ... [where] he helped organize an employees' union with slogans such as 'You Can't Eat Prestige.'" Well, I was a librarian at the KSG back then (my Reason-for-Living was very active in this effort, being a signatory to the first union contract in Harvard's history). Mr Donohue may indeed have contributed to the organizing effort (belated thank you!), but the union effort had been going on for well over a decade. Nor did Donohue coin, as Molloy infers, the slogan; Congressman Barney Frank did. But hey, why should facts interfere with a good story?
    • 4/5
      Quyick easy read. Very fun book. Great story of friendship and determination. Can't wait for the movie. What a supries to his friends to just show up with free beer in the middle of a war in a foriegn country. What a love for friends and soliders.
    • 4/5
      What a pleasant surprise. I had low expectations of what I thought was just another memoir from Vietnam War era, but I was blown away. The Greatest Beer Run is the crazy true story of what men will do when they really believe in something. In this case that something is that our boys in uniform should know that they have the full support from the folks back home.Fueled by one too many in his local bar Chickie takes off to tell the neighborhood boys that everyone is behind them. Only wrinkle is they are in a combat zone and there is no real way for civilians to travel to Vietnam. No problem, just hop on a merchant marine vessel with a case of local beer and hilarity ensues.Recommended for guys who did things they could never tell their mothers, they will find a kindred spirit in Chickie’s tale.
    • 2/5
      I received a free ARC through the LTER in exchange for my honest opinion. This book was simply not my "can of beer" (instead of cup of tea)..... I could not get into the story line of the author trying to find all of his buddies in Vietnam to hand them a beer from home. However, if this was ever made into a movie.... I would probably go watch it!Side note: My husband (retired Military) thought the book was quite good. I guess I was simply the wrong audience!
    • 4/5
      Well-told, exciting, fascinating. While the story of Chick in Vietnam was crazy and worth the read, I might have actually been more interested in hearing about what it was like growing up in NYC in the 50s. Those remembrances are sprinkled throughout. The story of him in Vietnam lives up to the insanity I had expected. It's a story worth reading and I'd be interested in reading a separate book from him about NYC in his childhood.
    • 5/5
      This was an entertaining memoir that illustrates loyalty, comradeship and friendship in a truly trying time in our history. I found it not only to be entertaining, but was a good history lesson about a time that I know very little about.If it weren't true, I would find the premise to be somewhat unbelievable. It does have all of the makings of a good movie and I can't wait to see it brought to life on the big screen. While the story doesn't try to mask the horror of the war, it does present it in a factual light without being overpowering to the reader. A very different and worthwhile read.Reader received a complimentary copy from LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.
    • 3/5
      Interesting; a story you have to read to believe. This is the insane, hard to believe story of a man who went overseas to bring beer and words of encouragement to the boys from his neighborhood serving in Vietnam. Chickie served four years in the Marines but was dubbed to old to re-up and serve in the Vietnam War. On a whim he agrees to the neighborhoods crazy idea of boosting the soldier's morale. Armed with a case of beer and his seaman's card he signed up on the first ship headed to Vietnam and literally jumped right into the was AS A CIVILIAN to check n on the boys from his neighborhood. It's wild; the scrapes he gets in are impressive (and terrifying). Interesting memoir and perfect for military lovers and vets.
    • 4/5
      I received a copy of this book through the Early Reviewers program on LibraryThing. Ironically, I had the book in my shopping cart on Amazon.com waiting for it to be released. I saw the short film sponsored by Pabst Blue Ribbon and was moved and intrigued by the story. I couldn't wait to get the book and, would you believe it, LibraryThing dropped one in my lap! :)This was a great book with an unbelievable story. The book was written in a very conversational tone - it sounds like you're hearing the story sipping a Rheingold beer at your local tavern - and the story moves along at a quick pace. The first person impressions of an outsider viewing the chaos that was Vietnam are telling. Chickie's pluck and gumption at taking on this task and succeeding at it were inspiring. The coolest thing about the book is that he could actually pull it off. Can you imagine someone being able to sneak over to Iraq and get assistance from those stationed there to find four or five soldiers deployed in different areas? You'd be arrested at the airport! The only thing I missed were lots of great photos...maybe in the hardcover version? And the last three "extra" chapters were either unnecessary or repetitive. Other than these minor critiques, the book was a lot of fun. Great story...great motivation...great glimpse into a time long gone. Get the book and read it quick so you'll be ready for the movie! And watch the short by PBR on YouTube. I'll see you at the theatre....