He went from NYC to Vietnam to deliver beer during a war — now his story is coming to the big screen – By J.D. Simkins (Military Times) / May 4 2021
John “Chick” Donahue will forever hold the title of the greatest beer run in world history. The year was 1967, and typical of many of the best military stories, Donahue’s incredible tale of hops-inspired friendship began in a bar.
The recently separated Marine veteran, then 26, was toasting with a group of friends in New York City when one member of their party suggested the zany idea of smuggling a little in-person support — and beer — into Vietnam for their deployed friends.
Donahue volunteered for the job, and within days, was on a Merchant Marine vessel armed only with a backpack full of booze, pairs of shorts and a few Hawaiian shirts. Chick’s journey of trading in the opulence of the City That Never Sleeps for the war-torn jungles of Vietnam, one that put him in dangerous proximity to the Tet Offensive, would eventually be the subject of the aptly named “The Greatest Beer Run Ever: A Memoir of Friendship, Loyalty and War,” co-authored by Donahue.
That story is now slated for a big screen adaptation courtesy of Oscar-winning director Peter Farrelly (“Green Book,” “Kingpin,” “Dumb and Dumber”) and a cast that should excite cinephiles everywhere.
