CHARACTER
The Greatest Beer Run Everby Chick Donohue and J. T. Molloy

Tommy Collins

Tommy Collins

Quick Facts

  • Role: MP in the 127th Military Police Company, stationed in Qui Nhon, Vietnam; first appears in Chapter 6
  • Roots: Younger brother of Billy “Chuckles” Collins; a “little brother” to the older Inwood crowd
  • Key relationships: John “Chick” Donohue; Billy “Chuckles” Collins; Rick Duggan; George "The Colonel" Lynch; Mrs. Collins
  • Theme tie-in: Friendship, Loyalty, and Camaraderie
  • After the war: Returns home, processes trauma, and builds a career as an NYPD detective

Who They Are

At heart, Tommy Collins is the first proof that Chick’s improbable journey isn’t just a barroom boast—it matters. As the inaugural friend Chick finds, Tommy turns the “beer run” from an absurd dare into a living connection between home and the war zone. He embodies the Inwood “kid brother” spirit: quick to laugh, eager to help, and quietly brave. His presence sets a hopeful tone early on, but later recollections of Tet reveal the peril beneath that levity. Tommy stands as the mission’s touchstone—immediate validation that a small act of friendship can carry immense weight.

Personality & Traits

Tommy balances good humor with responsibility. The reunion shows him as warm and gregarious; the later account of Tet shows his steadiness under fire. Even brief descriptions suggest how the war has matured him.

  • Good-natured and jovial: He greets Chick with disbelief and jokes about his “golf outing” clothes, using humor to defuse the surreal moment and reassert normalcy amid chaos.
  • Welcoming and social: He embraces Chick, shares a beer, and loops in his bunkmates, transforming a chance meeting into a night of community—an antidote to isolation.
  • Loyal: A living emblem of Friendship, Loyalty, and Camaraderie, he jumps to help Chick find their friend Rick Duggan and even seeks permission to join the search, putting camaraderie at the center of his choices.
  • Dutiful and steady: As an MP, he guards cargo ships and POW camps—high-risk assignments. The later account of the Tet Offensive, including the death of a fellow MP, underscores that his friendliness exists alongside real courage.
  • Physically matured: Chick notes, “He looked bigger and stronger than when I’d seen him last” (Chapter 6), signaling how military life has toughened the Inwood “kid brother” into a capable protector.

Character Journey

Tommy’s on-page arc is brief but catalytic. He begins as the first “win” of Chick’s quest—found almost instantly, as if fate approves the mission. Their night out re-centers both men in laughter, stories, and home. As the book progresses, Tommy’s off-page experiences during Tet darken the backdrop: the ammo dump explosion, the seized radio station, and a comrade’s death reveal what the reunion moment masked. Post-war, his “Where Are They Now?” update completes the arc: he channels the discipline and vigilance of wartime into a purposeful NYPD career, proof that he carries the burdens of service without surrendering his commitment to protect.

Key Relationships

  • John “Chick” Donohue: Tommy and Chick’s reunion is the first confirmation that the beer run can—and should—work. Their easy banter and instinctive embrace show an Inwood bond that transcends distance and danger, with Chick as the older-brother figure and Tommy the beloved kid who’s grown into his own strength.

  • Mrs. Collins: Her plea in Doc Fiddler’s bar (“Tell my Tommy how much I miss him!”) puts a mother’s heart at the center of the mission. Tommy becomes not just a name on Chick’s list but the living answer to a family’s prayers—proof that this errand is about connection, not spectacle.

  • The Inwood Neighborhood and George "The Colonel" Lynch: Tommy represents the neighborhood cohort scattered by the war, while “the Colonel” embodies the hometown spirit organizing care from afar. Together, they frame Tommy as part of a chain of loyalty stretching from barstools in Inwood to piers in Qui Nhon.

  • Rick Duggan: Tommy’s eagerness to help find Rick turns friendship into action. Their connection reinforces the book’s central belief: morale isn’t abstract—it’s delivered by hand, beer in tow, from one friend to another.

Defining Moments

Tommy’s scenes are brief but resonant; each one enlarges what the beer run means.

  • The Reunion in Qui Nhon Harbor (Chapter 6)

    • What happens: Chick’s water taxi pulls up just as MPs are rotating off a cargo ship—Tommy’s ship. They lock eyes, and disbelief turns into laughter.
    • Why it matters: It’s the mission’s first success, transforming a crazy idea into a living act of solidarity and setting a hopeful trajectory for everything that follows.

  • A Night of Normalcy (Chapter 6)

    • What happens: Tommy takes Chick and fellow MPs out to drink, dance, and swap stories from home—a pocket of peace against the backdrop of The Realities and Absurdities of War.
    • Why it matters: The scene shows how camaraderie restores soldiers’ sense of self, making the beer run not a stunt but a lifeline.

  • Fighting in the Tet Offensive (Chapter 26)

    • What happens: Tommy’s unit defends Qui Nhon after the VC blow up an ammo dump and seize the radio station; an MP in his unit is killed.
    • Why it matters: It retroactively deepens the early, joyful reunion—revealing the danger Tommy was living with and the stakes behind his humor and hospitality.

Essential Quotes

“Chickie! Are you kidding me? How did you get here? Are you nuts? What the hell are you doing here?!” — Chapter 6
This burst of incredulity captures Tommy’s shock, but also his affection. The volley of questions collapses the distance between New York and Vietnam—friendship overrides protocol, and the reunion becomes an instant anchor for the mission.

“What the hell are you wearing, man? White jeans and a madras shirt? You look like you’re going on a golf outing!” — Chapter 6
Tommy’s joke isn’t mere comic relief; it reasserts normalcy. By turning Chick’s outfit into a punchline, he reframes a surreal, dangerous setting as one where neighborhood humor still thrives.

“In the weeks before Tet, the Mamasans in the villages kept telling us, ‘Beaucoup VC, beaucoup VC’—many Vietcong—were coming into the area. We reported it to intel [army intelligence], but they told us it was ‘unconfirmed.’” — Chapter 26
Here Tommy’s tone shifts from playful to sober. His recollection points to the gap between local intelligence and official response, underscoring the precariousness MPs lived with and the tragic cost when warnings go unheeded.