RETeachPPS 🙋🏼‍♀️

When Harry Gregg boarded Manchester United’s flight home from Belgrade on the 6th of February 1958, the team had just reached the European Cup semi-finals after drawing 3-3 with Red Star. They stopped in Munich to refuel, but heavy snow had been falling and conditions at the airport were getting worse. The plane had already made two unsuccessful attempts to take off, and when the passengers were called back on for a third attempt, some of the players were becoming seriously worried. “Everyone sensed it was going to happen.” As the plane accelerated down the runway, Gregg looked out of the window and realised they were passing places he had not seen during the previous attempts. The aircraft had failed to gain enough speed for take-off, and within seconds it was crashing through the airport perimeter fence. “There was a sudden crash and debris began bombarding me on all sides.” “One second it was light, the next dark.” “There were no screams, no human sounds, only the terrible tearing of metal.” The plane struck a house and a fuel storage building before breaking apart, with pieces of the aircraft scattered across the snow. Gregg had been hit on the head and could taste blood in his mouth. “I thought the top of my head had been cut off.” For a moment he was convinced he was dead, but when he came round, he started crawling over the wreckage looking for a way out. He eventually found a hole in the fuselage and climbed through it into the snow. There were people running away from the aircraft, and Gregg was about to follow them when the captain, James Thain, appeared carrying a small fire extinguisher. “Run, you stupid b******, it’s going to explode!” Gregg was ready to run when he heard something coming from inside the wreckage. A baby crying. He started shouting after the people who were already making their way to safety. “Come back, you b******s.” “There’s a child alive.” Nobody came back, so Gregg climbed back into the aircraft. He kept following the crying until he found a little girl trapped beneath the debris. Her name was Vesna Lukic, the 20-month-old daughter of a Yugoslav diplomat, and despite everything that had happened, she had escaped with a cut above one eye. Gregg carried her out through the hole in the aircraft and handed her to the radio operator before going back to look for her mother. Vera Lukic was pregnant and badly injured, with a fractured skull, two broken legs and a terrible wound near her eye. Gregg managed to get her towards the opening and pushed her through with his feet before climbing out himself. There were still people trapped around the aircraft, and he continued searching through the wreckage. Gregg was desperate to find his friend Jackie Blanchflower, who he had known since their days playing schoolboy football in Northern Ireland. Instead, he found two other Manchester United players lying motionless near the aircraft. Bobby Charlton and Dennis Viollet. “I thought Bobby and Dennis were dead.” Gregg grabbed them by their trousers and dragged them about 20 yards through the snow, away from the burning wreckage. He left them among some seats that had been thrown clear of the plane and carried on searching. Matt Busby was lying nearby, conscious but clutching his chest and crying out in pain. “My legs, my legs.” His foot was pointing in the wrong direction, so Gregg helped prop him up before continuing to look for Blanchflower. He eventually found Jackie lying in water with a terrible injury to his arm. Manchester United captain Roger Byrne was lying across him. Gregg went to check on Byrne and realised he was dead. “There wasn’t a mark on him and his eyes were open.” “I’ve always regretted that I didn’t close his eyes.” Jackie’s arm was bleeding heavily, so Gregg took off his tie and tried to use it as a tourniquet. There were still explosions coming from the aircraft. Gregg turned around and saw two men standing nearby, looking towards the fire. It was Bobby Charlton and Dennis Viollet. The same two players he had dragged out of the wreckage believing they were dead. “I was so relieved.” “I thought they were dead.” By the time rescuers began taking control of the scene, Gregg had been moving between the injured and the wreckage for what felt like an eternity. Gregg eventually dropped to his knees in the snow and cried. “I had never seen death before.” “And never wanted to see it again.” Twenty-three people died as a result of the disaster, including eight Manchester United players. Gregg survived with relatively minor injuries, but spent years struggling with the loss of his teammates and the guilt of surviving when so many others had not. Gregg had become known around the world as the Hero of Munich, although he never felt particularly comfortable with the title. For Vera Lukic, the woman whose life he had saved along with her daughter’s, there was no doubt about what Gregg had done that afternoon. “To me, Harry Gregg has always been Superman.” Gregg never saw his actions in the same way other people did. “Heroes are people who do brave things knowing what the consequences will be.” “I had no idea what I was doing that day.” And when he was asked how he wanted people to remember him, his answer had nothing to do with the disaster. “I’m Henry Gregg, 34 Windsor Avenue, who played football.” “Who was useful at it on good days and rubbish at it on bad days.” “That’s what I want to be remembered for.” “Not something that happened on the spur of the moment.” #football