How a pint of Guinness helped a WW2 soldier dodge a deadly Nazi rocket attack

A lucky coin toss and the lure of a pint of Guinness saved the life of Second World War soldier Ken Pusey from a German rocket attack 80 years ago.

Aged 18 and having just joined the Army, he was stationed in Antwerp in Belgium on 16 December 1944.

Ken had been given a day pass and intended to go to the Cinema Rex – but he changed his mind at the last minute, opting instead for the new Naafi 21 Club after hearing it served draught Guinness for 3d.

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While he was drinking at the 21 Club, the Cinema Rex took a direct hit from a V2 rocket.

The attack killed 567 people, including 296 Allied service personnel from Britain, the US, Poland and Canada, and was the most deadly rocket attack of the war.

Now aged 98, Ken recalled the event from his Royal Star & Garter home in High Wycombe.

The Royal Engineers veteran said: "We didn't know what to do so we tossed a coin. It came down tails and we went to the club.

"After an hour or so we heard an enormous explosion. We thought 'what the hell is that?'."

He said his initial thoughts were "it was just another incident – there was a war going on and people were getting killed all over the place".

"We didn't find out until a lot later that a rocket had been fired from Holland and it had hit the cinema directly," he explained.

"It killed all those people and many more were seriously injured. The chaps had no chance, they were annihilated.

"We just thanked our blessings because, but for the toss of a coin and a pint of Guinness, we'd have been dead."

The day of the fatal rocket attack marked the first day of the Ardennes Campaign, also known as the Battle of the Bulge, where Germany launched a massive attack on Allied forces in the area around the Ardennes forest in Belgium and Luxembourg.

Ken added: "The more I think about it, the more I realise how lucky I was. There by the grace of God, I'm here today.

"It's frightening when you think back, because I was 18 at the time, and now I'm 98.

"I will never forget. Never."

After the war, Ken returned to live in High Wycombe where he worked in an engineering factory.

He moved to Royal Star & Garter in 2022, following the death of his wife.

The charity provides compassionate care to veterans and their partners living with disability or dementia.