Product Code Database
Reginald John Berry (1 June 1926 – 16 September 1994), (2026). 9781847379184, Simon & Schuster. ISBN 9781847379184 also listed as John James Berry, (1994). 9780951486269, ACL & Polar Publishing (UK). ISBN 9780951486269 (2026). 9781471128462, Simon & Schuster UK. ISBN 9781471128462 was an English footballer. Berry joined Manchester United from Birmingham City in 1951. Despite his diminutive stature, he was a natural right winger with technique and pace. One of the Busby Babes, the February 1958 Munich air disaster brought his career to an end.
Berry died of cancer in a hospice in Farnham in Surrey at the age of 68 in September 1994 Reginald John Berry in the England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007 - Ancestry.com after a short illness and was buried in the Catholic section at Aldershot Cemetery. Burial of Johnny Berry at Aldershot Cemetery - Ancestry.com He was the first surviving player of the Munich air disaster to die.
Berry married Hilda Reeves at Aldershot in 1948. Reginald J Berry in the England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005 - Ancestry.com They had three sons; Neil (who was later the head teacher of Brampton Manor School), and twins Paul (born 1952) and Craig (1952–1995).
Berry was also capped four times by England while playing for Manchester United, his chances of regular international action inevitably restricted by the form of Stanley Matthews and Tom Finney on the wing.
Injuries sustained in the Munich air disaster in February 1958 brought his footballing career to an end at the age of 31. When he woke up, he was totally unaware of the plane crash, his injuries having caused mild amnesia. A month after he regained consciousness, he found out about the crash from seeing a newspaper. He spent two months in hospital with a skull fracture, a broken jaw, a broken elbow, a broken human pelvis, and a broken leg. All of his teeth had to be removed while treating his jaw injuries. He only found out which of his teammates had been killed some time after he returned to England. When still in hospital, he would complain to manager Matt Busby that his teammate Tommy Taylor was a poor friend for not visiting him, unaware that Taylor had died in the accident. Doctors treating Berry felt that he was not well enough to be told that any of his colleagues had died at the time.
His first job after retiring from football was with Massey Ferguson at Trafford Park, but in 1960 he was asked to leave the Manchester United-owned house to accommodate new signing Maurice Setters, and he left Manchester to return to Aldershot. He later ran a sports business with his younger brother Peter in Cove, a village near Aldershot, until the 1980s. Peter was also a professional footballer, most notably with Crystal Palace. They also ran the Berry Brothers sports shop at Queensmead in Farnborough. Johnny Berry spent the final years of his working life as a storeman in a local television warehouse.
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