John “Chickie” Donohue. Photo provided by K. Hesselbacher 

By Kenneth Hesselbacher

Nov. 23, 2022: Recently I was at the Bronxville Post Office and was helped by Postal Worker Justin Rodriquez. Mr. Rodriquez, a most friendly, and competent young man happened to comment on my neat penmanship. I thanked him and explained that many many years ago I was fortunate to have been educated at the prestigious Good Shepherd Elementary School, located on the northern most tip of Manhattan in a tiny village known as Inwood.

Justin Rodriquez.  Photo by K. Hesselbacher

Mr. Rodriquez exclaimed “You won’t believe this! I went to Good Shepherd. Well, I didn’t really go to Good Shepherd. I was born in 1980 and when I was four years old my mother wanted to enroll me in an early program at Good Shepherd" but "my family moved to the lower east side, and I attended a public school.”

“Well,” I replied, “I am Good Shepherd Graduate Class of 56, which I believe, was the best class in the history of the school. The reason was John “Chickie” Donohue and “The Greatest Beer Run Ever”. Chickie accomplished the Greatest Beer Run Ever during the Vietnam War, a truly amazing adventure! He was featured in the documentary the Greatest Beer Run Ever and then wrote the book, “The Greatest Beer Run Ever” with Jo Anna Molloy.

The movie, directed by Peter Farrelly, was recently released by Apple to excellent reviews. Zac Efron plays Chickie. Russell Crowe and Bill Murray are in the movie. In my opinion Chickie, has more appeal than either Zac Efron or Peter Farrelly!

I highly recommend the documentary, the book and the movie. I think it reflects what is so great about our country.

In what is an ironic twist of fate, Justin Rodriquez now lives on Seaman Avenue in Inwood and Chickie Donahue grew up just off Seaman Ave and 207th Street!

Click here to see the movie trailer.