BONUS: A Beer Run Covering 9,000 Miles

Hi, I’m Rick Barron, your host, and welcome to That’s Life, I Swear

The year was 1967, and John Donohue took off to make a beer run for some of his friends in his neighborhood. Now one would think, what so special about a beer run? Well, this wasn’t your typical beer run and neither was the neighborhood. 

You see, John, who was 26 years old at the time, traveled more than 9,000 miles on this beer run. He went from New York City to Qui Nhon on a boat, stashing cold beer for his friends, his military friends, who were fighting in the Vietnam War.

Let’s jump into this 

I’m sure many of us have walked into a bar, and while enjoying your drink, you bump into someone who had a saloon tale or two to share with you. Some of us have heard the absurd, while others were quite fascinating. 

Such were the stories from John Donohue. For over fifty plus years John has shared many a saloon story.  But there was one story he kept sharing. It was his unbelievable beer run to Vietnam. Such a story was hard to believe for many. 

Right, you took a bet and packed up bags of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, jumped on a boat and headed from New York to Vietnam, so you could find some of your friends and pop open a few brewski's. Yeah sure, you did!

For decades, John Donohue’s “greatest beer run” story was met with a lot of doubt. It was a story just too hard to believe.

Even those who were John’s best friends, even some relatives, thought the story was just too farfetched, but good for a few laughs over beers. 

So, what’s a guy to do to erase this doubt? Aaaah, the porch light goes on in John’s head. Solution: write a book. 

John wrote and published his book in 2021, about his beer run exploits in a book titled  “The Greatest Beer Run Ever: A True Story of Friendship Stronger Than War” , along with Joanna Molloy, a former reporter for The New York Daily News.

The book includes images of John in Vietnam with the soldiers he visited as well as interviews with them.

So, the book wasn’t deserving of a Pulitzer Prize or demands for interviews on any of the late-night shows, but that didn’t stop John. The ever-resourceful Mr. Donohue is promoting it on his own, arranging readings at union meetings and veterans’ groups. The man knows his audience.

Now as if the book wasn’t enough to prove John’s bar story, get this. Apple+ TV, is scheduled to launch on Sept. 30, 2022, a movie, also tagged in the marquee as ‘The Greatest Beer Run Ever’: based on a true story. The movie is directed by director Peter Farrelly, whose past movies include There’s Something About Mary, Hall Pass, and Green Book.

This might be a good time to share how this story came about. 

John, grew up in Inwood, an area in Upper Manhattan. The neighborhood, may I add, was largely Irish-American and heavily populated with bars.

After serving four years in the Marine Corp, John settled down later landing a job as a sandhog, which is an occupation where urban miners dig train and water tunnels in New York City’s bedrock. He was part of the Sandhogs Local 147

John was very proud of his union buddies.

Working day after day as a sandhog takes its tow on you as it’s very labor-intensive work. 

After a week of digging and fighting with hard rock, John and others looked forward to starting the weekend by heading down to their favorite bar, Doc Fiddler’s, in Inwood, for beers and laughs.

During this time period in John’s life, the Vietnam War was a hot topic of discussion. Demonstrations filled the streets with people calling an end to the war. Having attended at least two-dozen funerals of young soldiers from Inwood, John was getting fed up with the antiwar protestors and slamming the soldiers fighting over there. 

This feeling of resentment against the protestors was shared with the bartender at Doc Fiddler’s. His name was George Lynch. 

One evening, while hearing some of his patrons talking about the war, George slammed his fist on the bar. ‘You know what, someone should go to Vietnam to give the soldiers a pat on the back and buy them a beer.’ 

Well, before you knew it, John took George’s suggestion to heart. He told the whole bar the same night that he would go over to Vietnam, with beers in hand to find three of his and George friends. People in the bar started to laugh, but John wasn’t laughing. He looked at everyone in the bar and in a loud voice said, ‘think I’m kidding, watch me’. Silence filled the room.

It didn’t take long for John to gather his things along with several boxes of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. He got the names and locations of the three soldiers, from George, who he wanted John to take the beers to. 

Now, how did John plan to get to Vietnam from New York?  Turns out that he had working experience as a merchant seaman. He took his skill set and was able to get a job as an oiler on the Drake Victory, a merchant ship taking ammunition from New York to Vietnam. 

I told you this guy was resourceful. Being Irish and a former Marine didn’t hurt either.

The voyage took a little over two months. Not knowing how long the trip would take John ended up drinking most of the beer he took with him. Once he finally landed in Qui Nhon harbor, he was able to restock his supply of beer. 

First name on the list to track down was Tom Collins, who was stationed with the 127th Military Police Company. Once he found him, John said the look on Tom’s face was priceless. Tom asked, John, “what the hell are you doing here?” Tom, now 71, recalled in an interview. “He said, ‘I came to bring you a beer.” What made Tom’s initial shock even more profound was John was dressed in plain clothes, plaid shirt and a cap. This guy obviously wasn’t dressed for the environment he had walked walk into. 

“He came through at a time when society didn’t want us and the protesters were all over us,” added Tom, now a retired New York City police detective. “But that’s John. He’s one of the nicest but craziest guys you ever want to meet.”

The book John wrote details how he mapped out his long odyssey through Vietnam, using every trick in the book to visit various military posts to surprise his friends.

Getting around in a war zone required clever and gutsy navigating through military outlets and hitching all sorts of rides on jeeps and planes. He bumped into one friend, Kevin McLoone, on a road in An Khe.

Mr. McLoone, a former Marine Corps service member, said he was driving a jeep when he came across John, who was looking for a ride.

“I saw this guy with a plaid madras shirt on — he was so out of place,” Kevin recalled. John said he had beer and was looking for guys from the neighborhood.  Kevin told John, ‘That’s one hell of a beer run.”

Mr. McLoone, now 75 and living in Long Beach, N.Y., said that he had never spoken much about his Vietnam service to family or friends, but that he told many people the story about John, and they looked at him like he was crazy.

John was someone who when placed in a box, always figured out how to solve the puzzle to find his way out. He talked his way onto a military mail truck to head north to Quang Tri to find another friend, Ricky Duggan. Turns out he and Ricky used to live in the same building in Manhattan when John was growing up. Duggan was serving as a specialist with the Army First Air Cavalry Division fighting in Khe Sanh.

Eventually John found Ricky, and they shared a few beers. That evening John experienced a scary night there, hearing gunfire in the near distance. 

“When he showed up, Ricky, recalled how all his buddies were flabbergasted! One said, ‘You mean this guy came here voluntarily?” For those of you who are young of age, a vast majority of those who served in Vietnam were drafted, me included. 

After the war Ricky, went on to become a New York City police lieutenant.

Last on John’s list was Bob Pappas, 73, who was a communications sergeant at an ammunition depot in Long Binh. Bob was having a difficult time in Vietnam. He had grown fatalistic after hearing that several of his buddies were killed in action.

When John showed up north of Saigon where Pappas was stationed, the guys spent a few days together, drinking beers and catching up with one another. After he returned to Saigon, John heard massive explosions at the base where Pappas was. Worried about Bob, he traveled back north, about 25 miles from Saigon, and found Pappas alive and well. Brother, that is a friend.

There is a saying in the Marine Corp, ‘leave no man behind’. 

Bob later reflected that seeing John gave him encouragement that he was going to make it back home. He added that being interviewed for the book helped persuade him to finally begin counseling for post-traumatic stress disorder.

The beer run lasted from December 1967 until “after St. Patrick’s Day” in 1968, about four months.

What can we learn from this story? What’s the take away?

A lot of years have passed since John’s infamous beer run. Eventually John and his three friends he found in Vietnam, met up for a reunion on June 30, 2015, and recalled their surprise in seeing John in Vietnam, with beer in hand, that year. 

That said, please visit my website for this episode and go to the Show Notes and click on the link titled ‘Pabst Blue Ribbon Presents: The Greatest Beer Run Ever’, and watch the reunion. His friends and others, expressed deep gratitude for him risking his life and showing the troops overseas that someone ‘still’ cared about them, their service and their sacrifice.

Many didn’t want to be in Vietnam. It was a war that made no sense to many of us. For that much, what war does. But our country called on us to serve, and serve we did. We met our obligations, and you know what, I’d do it again.

Our country isn’t perfect and God knows it has its faults. In the long run we don’t have it so bad here.  

As a fellow Vietnam veteran, I thank John Donohue for what he did as a former Marine, and risking his life for his friends.

To my fellow Vietnam vets, be sure to check out the movie on Apple+ TV, scheduled for Sept. 30, 2022, and pick up John’s book at your local bookstore.

John, should I ever be in Upper Manhattan, I be sure look you up and buy you a beer.

Well, there you go. That's life, I swear.

For further information regarding the material covered in this episode, I invite you to visit my website, that you can find on either Apple Podcasts/iTunes or Google Podcasts, for show notes calling out key pieces of content mentioned and the episode transcript.

As always, I thank you for listening. 

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