A century in the making

A century in the making Brian Smith Tue, 04/09/2024 - 8:12 pm   Howard Dean Berry is a World War II veteran who is celebrating his 100th birthday Saturday, April 13. Photo/Brian Smith Howard Berry says there are no secrets to living 100 years. “Just an awful lot of luck,” Berry said with a chuckle. Howard Dean Berry, a Jack County resident, will celebrate his 100th birthday from 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 13 at the Concerned Citizens of Jack County, at 400 E. Pine. All are welcome to stop by and wish him a happy birthday. Berry grew up during the Great Depression where his father lost his hardware implement business in Missouri when he was five years old along with the dust storms of that era. He said he was known as Dean while growing up but became Howard as an adult. He said as a child he was “like a free range chicken,” exploring and doing what kids in a small town do. His small town of about 300 people kept Berry occupied to the point where he remembered people and the street they lived on and even the kind of home they lived in even to this day, his son Kevin said. He joined the Santa Fe Railroad before graduat- ing from high school, having to leave for work in Temple before he graduated. He got permission from the school board to do so and his girlfriend at the time picked up his diploma. The girlfriend soon after became his wife of 71 years before passing away in 2014. “It was her idea,” Berry noted. “It was a good one, too.” He was drafted while working in for the railroad and spent 2.5 years in the Army as a Glider Paratrooper with the Army’s 17th Airborne Division. “We hauled everything from jeeps to soldiers,” Berry recalled. Berry was sent to England and trucked over into France before taking part in the Battle of the Bulge, Bastogne and Operation Varsity, the invasion across the Rhine River into Germany on March 24, 1945. He earned a Purple Heart, wounded by gunfire during the glider insertion. “I got hit twice at the same time – in the right foot and left thigh, which in a glider are about the only places you’re going to get hit,” Berry said. After the war his interest in flying continued, going to artillery school at Fort Sill, Okla. He worked for Santa Fe for 40 years. Since retiring he admits to doing “as little as possible.” He flew Cessna 172 for a while and now lives north of Jacksboro with his son, who lives on the property with his wife, and looks in on him. He is also a member of the local VFW.