True Stories #183 - The Strange Journey of Chickie Donahue

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Episode Transcript

(00:01):
I'm Seth Andrews, and what you'reabout to hear is a true story.
John Donahue went to Vietnam and hewasn't supposed to be there. In fact,
the United States military didn't even knowhe was there. Here is what

(00:26):
happened. John was better known tohis friends by a nickname. They called
him Chicky, and Chicky Donohue hadserved in the Marine Corps from nineteen fifty
eight to nineteen sixty four. Hebecame a merchant seaman and one day he
was just hanging out that one ofhis favorite New York City bars, and

(00:47):
he was sitting there talking to thebartender. The bartender himself was a former
gi He called himself Colonel Lynch.He hadn't actually been a colonel, but
that's what people called him, ColonelLynch, and he was angry. Remember
this, nineteen sixty seven, theVietnam War well underway, and soldiers and

(01:10):
support personnel were getting drafted and woundedand killed on the battlefield. And then
Colonel Lynch would look out his NewYork City windows and there would be those
Vietnam War protesters. The whole thingjust made his blood boil. His own
friends and neighbors were across the oceanbleeding and dying, and yet these demonstrators

(01:36):
had the gall to march in protest. Here Colonel Lynch stood behind the bar,
cursing the whole thing, and helooked at Chicki and he said,
you know, I'd like to goover there, just go to Vietnam and
track down those boys from my neighborhoodand buy them all a beer. And

(01:57):
Chickie looked back and he said,all right, I can do that.
I'm sorry. Chickie was going totravel more than eight thousand miles from New
York to Vietnam on a beer run. Yes, and here began one of
the most bizarre journeys of the twentiethcentury. John Chickie Donohue. He just

(02:23):
decided he was going to go toVietnam to hand out beer to four specific
men. Now he wasn't actively servingin the military, but he did know
the system, he knew the lingo, he knew how the military worked,
and so he sported an important lookingmustache. Remember that the military didn't allow

(02:44):
facial hair, so apparently people sawhim and just assumed he was some kind
of higher up. And even whenhe was pressed about who he was.
He would just respond, I'm amerchant mariner, and nobody questioned him after
that, possibly because they had noidea what a merchant mariner actually was.

(03:05):
John got himself a job in theengine room of an ammunition ship that was
heading to Vietnam. This was amonth long journey, and Chicki had bought
himself a duffel bag full of beercans. Now, the problem was,
that's a long journey, thirty days, and Chicky liked beer. He would

(03:28):
later admit that he himself on thattrip had drank over sixty cans of beer,
and by the time the ship haddocked, his duffel was looking kind
of saggy. But never fear.Chickie found some enlisted men's clubs and he
requisitioned more. And then he embarkedon his impossible journey, a personal journey,

(03:53):
and sometimes John found himself running forhis life, escaping enemy ambushes,
leaping in foxholes. The war wasbecoming a close up experience. He was
realizing just how dumb and dangerous hisstunt really was. And as he was
there dodging the bullets while soldiers allaround him did not, John's perspective on

(04:16):
the war began to change. Hehad arrived with blind duty to country,
but John would leave distrustful and angryabout the lies, the waste, the
politics masquerading as a fight for freedom. He arrived pro war, he left
anti war. But of course hewas there in Vietnam, and he was

(04:41):
a man on a mission, andhe was very, very clever. He
managed to work his way around thecountry through the system looking for these four
guys, and he would smooth talkhis way onto a military plane. He
would slide himself onto road convoys ridingon the trucks, and believe it or
not, against all of the odds, Chickie found and delivered beer from his

(05:08):
duffel bag to all four of ColonelLynch's neighbor friends, the soldiers Tommy Collins,
Bobby Pappas, Rick Duggan, andKevin mcloon. I mean, just
imagine it, Chickie Donohue walks upand says, hey, your friend Colonel
Lynch wanted me to bring you somebeer. Can you even imagine? And

(05:33):
then, of course, after thatthe mission was done. As the guns
blasted and the bombs fell, Chickiemanaged to get himself back out of Vietnam.
He left uninjured, but he didleave a changed man. Now what
in the world would motivate somebody toenter a faraway war zone with a duffel

(05:56):
bag of beer. Chicki did areunion interview with CBS News. He actually
sat next to the other four menreunited after decades, and he said this
before the cameras. He said,quote, I did the right thing.
I was letting these kids die withoutme helping them, and that's what I

(06:16):
wanted to do. This story wasactually made into a feature film in twenty
twenty two. The movie was notwell reviewed. It was not well received,
but the real life story has passedthe test of time. The real
accounts of John Chicky Donna Hue,the man who braved possible death to bring

(06:41):
some cold brew, desperately needed goodwilland just a little taste of home and
the journey of Chickie Donna Hue andhis Bag of Beer is a true story.
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