The war movie “The Greatest Beer Run Ever” on AppleTV+ is about John “Chickie” Donohue, a 26-year-old veteran of the US Marine Corps who goes to Vietnam during the Vietnam War to visit his friends who were stationed there.
Chickie wants to give them beer cans as a sign of thanks and support from his New York City neighborhood, Inwood. Based on a true story, the movie directed by Peter Farrelly gives a glimpse into the real life of Chickie, who risked his own life to meet four of his friends in Vietnam war zones. We found out where Chickie is now because of how amazing the movie was. If you want the same thing, let us be your partner.
Who is “Chickie” John Donohue?
John “Chickie” Donohue is a veteran of the US Marine Corps. In 1967, when US soldiers were dying in Vietnam, he worked as a merchant seaman. Chickie realized that his country should help the soldiers who were risking their lives in Vietnam after seeing the funerals of two dozen soldiers who lived in his New York City neighborhood, Inwood, and anti-war protests that criticized the bravery of the soldiers. He put a bunch of Pabst Blue Ribbon beers in a duffle bag and got a job as an oiler on the Drake Victory, a merchant ship that carried weapons from New York to Vietnam, so he could meet up with six friends who had fought in the Vietnam War.
When Chickie got to Qui Nhon harbor and saw his friend Tom Collins, his two-month trip to Vietnam was finally over. After meeting Collins, Chickie kept going on his trip in jeeps and planes, stopping to see his friends one by one. After meeting Collins, Chickie met Kevin McLoone by accident while “walking alone on a dirt road through the jungle,” as it says in the book that Chickie and Joanna Molloy used as the basis for the movie with the same name. Even though Chickie was just a regular person, he was able to get on a military mail plane to meet his friend and former neighbor Rick Duggan.
Chickie wanted to visit more friends, but his trip was over when he met Bob Pappas, who was stationed at a Long Binh ammunition depot. After meeting his friends, Chickie gave them beer because, as he told McLoone, “the gang wants you to know how much we appreciate you.”
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Where is “Chickie” John Donohue?
People say that when Chickie came back to the U.S. from Vietnam, he bought “Doc Fiddler’s,” the neighborhood bar where he often met his friends. He is said to have run it for a few years. In the end, he became a “sandhog,” a worker who digs tunnels for trains and water in New York City. He then became the Legislative and Political Director of Sandhogs of Laborers International Union of North America’s Local 147, a job he held for more than thirty years. As a lobbyist for the union, he was involved in the politics of the sandhogs in a big way.
Chickie also has a Master of Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Chickie and Joanna Molloy worked together to write the book “The Greatest Beer Run Ever.” It is a detailed account of Chickie’s time in Vietnam and was used as the basis for the movie. In 2017, the book came out. After the book came out, he set up readings at union meetings and groups for veterans to get the word out about it. The unbelievable truth of Chickie’s story shocked sandhogs in several New York City bars and gatherings. Chickie was sometimes on the set of “The Greatest Beer Run Ever” while it was being made.
After Chickie stopped working as a sandhog, he and his wife Theresa “Terri” O’Neill moved to Pompano Beach, Florida, where they live now. When Chickie isn’t in Florida or New York, he lives in West Cork, Ireland. He also has seven grandchildren. Collins, McLoone, Duggan, and Pappas still meet Chickie for dinner in New York. In September 2022, Chickie went to the premiere of the movie with his four friends at the Toronto International Film Festival. The audience stood up to applaud them. Chickie still says that “all he did” was help his countrymen and that he didn’t try to “teach anyone anything.”
In November 1967, anti-war protests and George Lynch, a bartender at a local bar called Doc Fiddler’s, made Donohue decide to go on a four-month trip to Vietnam to bring beer to some of his neighbors who were serving in the military there. He got a job on a merchant ship that took ammunition from New York to Qui Nhon, Vietnam. When he got there on January 19, 1968, he gave the first beer to Donohue’s childhood friend Tom Collins, who was in the 127th Military Police Company. Later, he went to A Shau Valley, where he brought beer to Kevin McLoone and Rick Duggan, two other people from Inwood. He also took part in the Battle of Khe Sanh for a short time. The next day, he went to Saigon, where he gave his last beer to an Army communications specialist named Bobby Pappas. Since he missed the ship’s return trip, he had to wait a while before he could get a passport and visa from the U.S. Consulate. The Tet Offensive started on the day he was supposed to leave Saigon, so he was stuck in the country. Later, he got a job as an oiler on a ship that was going to New York. He got there on April 1, 1968.
The Greatest Beer Run Ever, which will soon be available on Apple TV and stars Zac Efron and Russell Crowe, is the latest comedy-drama movie that people are looking forward to seeing. The Oscar-winning director Peter Farrelly’s war drama is based on a small but important event. At the center of the story is US marine John “Chickie” Donohue, who in 1968 traveled halfway around the world to bring a crate of beer to his friends fighting in the Vietnam War.
Donohue’s kind act changed the history of the Vietnam War, and director Farrelly has picked up on it in his new movie, The Greatest Beer Run Ever, which tells the beautiful story. Read on to learn more about John Donohue before the new movie comes out.
Who is John “Chickie” Donohue? What did he do?
John “Chickie” Donohue, a former US Marine, surprised and delighted his friends at the Vietnam War site when he showed up with beers, much to the joy of the tired soldiers.
Donohue’s search began in New York City in November 1967 at an Irish pub called Doc Fiddler’s. He was watching a news report about an anti-war rally in Central Park while the Vietnam War was still going on. When the bartender, who was known as the Colonel, said that someone should go down there and get the neighborhood boys some beer, Donohue had a great idea.
Donohue accepted the challenge and set out to find six enlisted men from the area. He promised to bring them beer as a thank you for their service in the war. He put Pabst Blue Ribbon and Schlitz beers from the United States in his duffel bag and got a job as an oiler on the Drake Victory, which was taking supplies from New York to Vietnam.
But bringing beer to a war-torn area in a different country wasn’t all fun and games, and Donohue had to face the harsh realities of war. Two months after he started his journey, Donohue found himself in a war zone. All he knew about the people he was looking for were their names and their last known coordinates.
John “Chickie” Donohue took convoys, military planes, and helicopters to get from Qui Nhon to Khe Sahn. When he finally got to Saigon, he arrived right in the middle of the Tet Offensive. He found four people on his list, and they all got together for a beer-soaked party.
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The kind act made the soldiers happy, and they got emotional when they got a taste of their old lives. After the war was over, John “Chickie” Donohue found four veterans in his neighborhood. In 2015, they all got back together for a Pabst Blue Ribbon video.
This Friday, September 30, 2022, The Greatest Beer Run Ever will be available for the first time on Apple TV. The movie’s main character, John “Chickie” Donohue, is played by Zac Efron. Russell Crowe, Bill Murray, Jake Picking, Will Ropp, and Archie Renaux also appear in the film.
The story of The Greatest Beer Run Ever is based on Donohue’s famous beer run, which gave four tired soldiers relief, comfort, and company during the bloody Vietnam War. Efron has said this about the story:
John “Chickie” Donohue served in the Marines for four years, but he didn’t go to war. As a merchant seaman, he had only been to Vietnam twice, but he knew dozens of soldiers who were putting their lives at risk there. The anti-war protests in his city made him angry, so the New Yorker decided to go back to Vietnam and bring cold beer to the troops.
In November 1967, it started on a winter night. Donohue was having a drink at Doc Fiddler’s on 275 Sherman Avenue in his old neighborhood of Inwood when a TV news report about protesters in Central Park came on. People in the bar called them naive idealists, and the bartender, George Lynch, came up with a plan.
“Someone should go to Vietnam, find our neighborhood boys, and bring them each a beer!” Lynch said.
In his book The Greatest Beer Run Ever, A Memoir of Friendship, Loyalty, and War, Donohue wrote about his ambitious four-month journey that covered more than 8,000 miles at sea. From New York City to Qui Nhon, he only had a list of names and a bunch of beer rattling around below deck.