By Fred Wu
Tim Brooks opened the program with a video about a reunion of today’s speaker, James “Chickie” Donohue, with a group of his old friends who were Vietnam veterans. Tim then introduced Mr. Donohue and interviewed him about his book, The Greatest Beer Run Ever: A Story of Friendship, Loyalty, and War, and the movie that followed.
In 1967, as a young merchant seaman living in upper Manhattan, Donohue and his friends were disturbed by the virulence of the anti-war protests and the lack of support for the young soldiers, some of whom they knew, who were fighting and dying in the faraway war. Someone suggested “take them a beer” to show that their old friends supported them, and “Chick” decided to do just that. The next day he boarded a civilian merchant ship with a list of soldiers from his neighborhood and a duffel bag filled with cans of beer, and headed for Vietnam. Once in the war zone he tracked down several of them, while dodging bullets and evading authorities. Then, just as he was about to leave, the bloody Tet Offensive began and he was caught in the middle of that.
When he finally got home even members of his own family didn’t believe his story of what he had done. Others told him it should be made into a movie. Finally, 50 years later, he met a retired reporter who helped him write a book about his adventure, but it was turned down by publishers. So he self-published it. He brought books to the VFW and elsewhere and sold them himself. Hollywood producer Peter Farrelly learned about it and wanted to make it into a movie. In March 2020, after it became public that he had signed a movie deal with Farrelly, New York publishers started calling him. This started a bidding war, which was won by HarperCollins. In just a couple of years, a movie was released and the book became popular, in spite of the Covid pandemic.
The best thing about the story is that the four guys he found in Vietnam are all still alive today, and they get together a few times a year. Many friends who didn’t go to Vietnam have since passed, but these guys are still around! The success of the book enabled him to bring his wife to Greenwich and be near his daughter and grandchildren.
A trailer for the movie, which was released in September 2022, was then screened, after which Tim Brooks, himself a veteran, continued his interview of Chick.
Q: What was it like to see yourself and your family on the big screen?
A: It just happened. I had been to Vietnam a couple of times before as a merchant seaman. I knew that the officers and Vietnam officials weren’t used to dealing with businessmen. I was afraid that the US Army officers might stop me if I just told them the truth about what I was trying to do, but they thought I was a CIA agent, because there were no other civilians there. Because of my military experience I also knew how to communicate with the soldiers about how to locate my buddies. I had no trouble getting to where I wanted to go, even though I was a civilian.
Q: The scenes in Vietnam were very realistic. Did you advise the movie producers about what Vietnam should really look like? A: One of the best things to come out of the war is that there are a lot of Vietnamese and their descendants here in the US now. They knew what the scenes in Vietnam should look like, so they acted as advisors on that.
Q: Were you yourself in the movie?
A: No, I was supposed to be in a group scene but I ended up on the cutting room floor. As for the title, Peter Farrelly told me the name of the book was too long for a movie title. I told him the only Vietnam movie I had seen was Forrest Gump, so if you want to call it Chickie Donohue that’s ok. So they kept the long name.
Donohue didn’t have a visa when he arrived, but he needed a visa to leave Vietnam. He was able to get the papers while there, and he was all set to get a flight to the Philippines arranged by the US Embassy in Saigon. But that was the day that the Tet Offensive started, and the embassy had been overrun by the Viet Cong. He waited near the embassy for hours, and saw people getting killed. It turned out that the enemy had been able to take over the embassy because some of the employees were working for the Viet Cong. The US did not want to admit this was true, so they brought a tank to the embassy and blew a hole in the wall. General Westmoreland then said that was how the Viet Cong got into the embassy.
Q: Tell us about your experiences making the movie.
A: On the first day, Zac Efron had to do 20 takes for a scene. I thought that meant he was doing a bad job, but later I realized that was how movies are shot and edited. I realized that Zac, playing me, was able to make me feel emotional when I was watching it.
Audience Q&A:
Q: Did you consider going back and doing it again? Chick promised his mother that he would never go back.
To see the full presentation, go to https://greenwichrma.org, cursor to “Speakers” and click on “Speaker Videos.”
The RMA’s next presentation will feature David Richards, who will speak on “I Give These Books: The History of the Yale University Library, 1656-2022 “.
The presentation will take place at 11:00 A.M. on Wednesday, July 26 at the First Presbyterian Church. To stream this presentation on July 26, click on https://bit.ly/30IBi21.
The presentation will also be available on local public access TV channels, Verizon FIOS channel 24 and Optimum (Cablevision) channel 79.
RMA presentations are presented as a community service at no cost to in-person or Zoom attendees, regardless of gender. The RMA encourages all eligible individuals to consider becoming a member of our great organization, and thereby enjoy all the available fellowship, volunteer, and community service opportunities which the RMA offers to its members. For further information, go to https://greenwichrma.org/, or contact our membership chairman (mail to:members@greenwichrma.org).
