We give thanks to Theresa O’Neill Donohue and George Rush and Eamon Rush for their patience and support. This book is written in memory of those we lost in Vietnam, including Chick’s friends Michael F. Boyle, James Dziencilowski, Daniel J. Forster, John F. Knopf, Michael J. McGoldrick, John McHale, Thomas F. Minogue, Michael J. Morrow, Anthony J. O’Neill, Stephen V. Parker, Richard P. Reynolds Jr., Bernard Lynch, and J. T. Molloy’s cousin, Eugene O’Connell.
Deepest thanks to Vietnam veterans Thomas (Tommy) Collins, Richard (Rick) Duggan, Robert (Bobby) Pappas, and Kevin McLoone for their service, and for sharing their vivid stories of meeting up with Chick in Vietnam.
Thank you to their partners in life, Suzanne Oquendo Collins, Noreen O’Shea, Eileen Pappas, and Margo McLoone, for all their participation and their own tales told.
Thanks to all those who helped Chick during his journey. Kudos to the late George “The Colonel” Lynch for conceiving it.
Our humble thanks to Mauro DiPreta, executive editor at William Morrow at HarperCollins Publishers, a modern-day Maxwell Perkins who made our book exponentially better with the help of his team: Vedika Khanna, Andrea Molitor, Phil Bashe, Pamela Barricklow, Liate Stehlik, Benjamin Steinberg, and Molly Waxman.
We are also grateful for the storytelling powers and editorial insights of Karen Duffy (Duff) Lambros, Malachy McCourt, Thomas Kelly, Robert Donohue, Jack Minogue, Coogan’s owner and singer of Irish songs Peter Walsh, Joe Reynolds, Bill Wall of New York’s Saluggi’s and Nancy Whiskey Pub, Mila Andre, Seth Kaufman, Phil Cornell, John McMullen, and Audra Donohue O’Donovan; all the members of the Narrowbacks PFC Thomas Minogue Chapter, and the late Steve (Pally) McFadden.
Many thanks to New York’s best literary agent, Frank Weimann at Folio Literary Management.
We feel great gratitude to talented filmmaker Andrew J. Muscato at Makuhari Productions for directing the documentary short of Chick’s reunion with some of his beer-run buddies at the Piper’s Kilt on West 231st Street in the Bronx. Also titled The Greatest Beer Run Ever, Muscato’s film has garnered more than 625,000 views on YouTube as of 2020. Thanks to the Pabst Brewing Company for sponsoring the film.
Many thanks to Aimee Rivera, Don Granger, Dana Goldberg, and David Ellison of Skydance Media for believing that Chick’s story should also be told in movie form; and to Oscar winners Peter Farrelly and Brian Hayes Currie, and Project Greenlight winner Pete Jones, for using their magic powers to conjure that.
Thanks to documentarian Eddie Rosenstein, Brian Donohue of the Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA); and Sean Donohue of the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE)
Thanks to the savvy strategists at DKCNews public relations, including Sean Cassidy, Joe DePlasco, Carolyn Petschler, Michael Moschella, and Nathan Adams for bringing this story to more people; and to financial wizards Norman Dawidowicz and Lesley Grannum for helping to make that a reality.
Thanks to attorney Michael Carroll of O’Dwyer and Bernstein; publishing lawyers Sheila and Gerald Levine; and entertainment lawyers Jonathan Horn; and Robert M. Szymanski of Eclipse Law Corp. for their expert legal advice.
Many thanks to Philadelphia’s Irish Pub owner Mark O’Connor and his trusty aide Allie Pfender. In Philadelphia, O’Connor had the brilliant idea to hold “The Shortest Beer Run Ever” between his Irish Pub at 2007 Walnut Street and his Irish Pub at 1123 Walnut Street to raise money for the Marine Corps–Law Enforcement Foundation, which benefits children. Those of us from The Greatest Beer Run team were humbled to participate with Medal of Honor recipients Mike Thornton, Barney Barnum, and Brian Thacker as they raced the course in Humvees, led by the Philadelphia Police Department. Small wonder that O’Connor’s Irish Pub Children’s Foundation has raised $5 million for charity.
Part of the proceeds of The Greatest Beer Run Ever will be donated to veterans foundations and other charitable organizations.
Only 0.5 percent of Americans serve in the military, but 100 percent of us benefit. Thank you.