10/09/2024
Not bad for a Marine.
Marine Corps veteran John "Chickie" Donohue was sitting in a Manhattan bar in November 1967 when the bartender grumbled that American soldiers in Vietnam could really use a pat on the back and a cold beer. And within days, Donohue set out to do just that.
He quickly got a job on a merchant ship hauling ammunition to Vietnam. Then, with a duffel bag full of Pabst Blue Ribbon and Schlitz in tow, he set out on his 8,000-mile journey. However, things immediately got off to a rocky start — when Donohue drank all the beer himself. Then, after restocking, he managed to find the companies his neighborhood buddies were serving in and talk his way onto Army jeeps and helicopters to make it through Saigon, Manila, and Khe Sanh. At every turn, military personnel had no idea know what to make of Donohue, who was dressed in a plaid shirt and corduroys and often introduced himself by simply saying he had beer for guys from his neighborhood back home.
He ended up hauling his beer right through the middle of some of the bloodiest conflicts of the entire war, including the Tet Offensive — when he actually came under fire from North Vietnamese forces. But in the end, Donohue fulfilled his mission and shared some cold beers with his old friends on the frontlines.
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