They say you’ ll know who’s your real friend in times of hardship, and oh boy John “Chickie” Donohue proved this theory. This is the story of the civilian merchant marine from New York. The guy is a winner – he wins in the various social categories like best beer run story, the craziest thing to do for a friend, the best party trick and stuff like that.
So to sum it up, what John Chickie Donohue did is to sneak into the war zone in Vietnam at the height of the war just to bring beer to his three enlisted best friends.
“A lot of my friends were serving in Vietnam. I just wanted to go over there and buy them all a beer. That’s what I did”. John ‘Chickie’ Donohue
Donohue was determined to surprise his neighborhood chums and successfully managed to trick a hell of a lot of the military’s top brass. He sweet-talked his way overseas, straight into the combat zone to treat his buds with a beer, the beer was warm, though.
“He is in a combat zone and here he is walking like he is going like on a golf “ recalls one of his friends.“We got drunk, needless to say“ he adds.
After Donohue found his friends and they finished the six pack, it was time to go to sleep, but since Vietnam at the time wasn’t much of a spa resort, they spent a rough night with fire fights going on all around them. That was the time when Chickie kind of regretted his actions, but fortunately all went well.
The marketing department from the Pabst Blue Ribbon- a Milwaukee brewery heard about this incredible and touching story and decided to track down his childhood friends to tell the story in details. They compiled a 13-minute documentary, and called it “Greatest Beer Run Ever” and they are right.
So, when we watched the documentary, we cannot help but question all of our long time friendships.