#BlogTour: The Greatest Beer Run Ever by John ‘Chick’ Donohue & JT Molloy @Octopus_Books @RandomTTours #TheGreatestBeerRunEver #JohnChickDonohue #HistoricalMemoir #5Stars

Book Synopsis:

IT SEEMED LIKE A GOOD IDEA AT THE TIME.

As a result of a rowdy night in his local New York bar, ex-Marine and merchant seaman “Chick” Donohue volunteers for a legendary mission. He will sneak into Vietnam to track down his buddies in combat to bring them a cold beer and supportive messages from home. It’ll be the greatest beer run ever!

Now, decades on from 1968, this is the remarkable true story of how he actually did it.

Armed with Irish luck and a backpack full of alcohol, Chick works his passage to Vietnam, lands in Qui Nhon and begins to carry out his quest, tracking down the disbelieving soldiers one by one.

But things quickly go awry, and as he talks his way through checkpoints and unwittingly into dangerous situations, Chick sees a lot more of the war than he ever planned – spending a terrifying time in the Demilitarized Zone, and getting caught up in Saigon during the Tet Offensive.

With indomitable spirit, Chick survives on his wits, but what he finds in Vietnam comes as a shock. By the end of his epic adventure, battered and exhausted, Chick finds himself questioning why his friends were ever led into the war in the first place.

The Greatest Beer Run Ever is available in ebook and hardback now. You can purchase your copy using the link below.

My Review:

I love historical memoirs, especially if they tell me about events I’ve not heard of before. I therefore really enjoyed this fascinating, funny story about friendship and loyalty.

Firstly I didn’t know much about the Vietnam War so I found it very interesting to learn more about it, especially from someone who had first hand experience of it. I liked the way the author subtly includes the facts into the story so that it doesn’t become bogged down with facts and become difficult to read. In fact the whole tone of the book is quite casual and I often felt like the author was sitting in front of me telling me the story. This made it very easy to read which isn’t always the case with these types of books.

Chickie is a fantastic narrator and helped draw me into story, keeping my interest the whole way through. Even though the story is about his mission, Chickie doesn’t just write about himself as throughout the book we learn a lot about his friends and their experiences too. I liked the way he did this and it was great to get to know some of the friends he took a beer to. There are lots of photos in the book which helped me put faces to names and get an idea of the places he visited. They really added to the story and I was very pleased to see them included.

The story itself is very gripping, managing to be both funny and serious at times. It was great fun to follow ‘Chickie’ through his fascinating story of some extreme challenges, danger and some very lucky escapes. It’s quite a mad adventure at times and I did read with a sense of disbelief that he actually did this but at the same time feeling very impressed that he did!

I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in history or real life stories as I thought this was a brilliant read. My husband, who rarely reads, has already nicked this book to start reading so it obviously holds great appeal to everyone. It’s going to be made into a film soon and I’ll definitely be going to see it (Covid restrictions permitting).

Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Octopus publishing for my copy of this book.

About The Author:

John “Chick” Donohue joined the United States Marine Corps at the age of seventeen and spent several years as a Merchant Mariner after his discharge. His work took him to numerous foreign ports, including Saigon during the Vietnam War. After the war, he became a tunnel builder, and eventually became a Director of Sandhogs, Local 147, Laborers’ International Union of North America, a post in which he served for over three decades. He is happily married to Theresa “Terri” O’Neil and spends his time between New York, Florida, and West Cork, Ireland.