On 10 May 1940, Nazi Germany invaded Belgium. Days later the Nazi flag was hung from Antwerp Cathedral. The occupation divided the city’s inhabitants and led to the persecution of Jews and dissidents. Because the port was a strategic military target, the area later became the focus of major military operations, including the Battle of the Scheldt.
By early November 1944, the Scheldt Estuary had been secured by Allied forces led by Canadians. After mines and debris were cleared, the port of Antwerp reopened to Allied shipping at the end of the month. It immediately became a vital lifeline, bringing supplies, reinforcements, and equipment to the Allied armies advancing into Germany.
Gunner Keith Clifton Fletcher, a 19-year-old from Kent, was serving in the 118 Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery. He was the son of a Chief Petty Officer and grew up in Dover, where he attended the River School. One of four children, he had two older sisters and a younger brother. After the outbreak of war, the family moved to Rochester, but tragedy struck when his mother died on 5 July 1943.
Unlike front-line infantry, such units were typically deployed in defensive roles around key ports and supply routes such as Antwerp. Although not engaged in close combat, they operated within an active war zone, increasingly threatened by air attack and the new V-weapons.
By December, the city was crowded with military personnel from many nations. On Sunday afternoon, 16 December 1944, the Cinema Rex – a popular venue designed in the style of large American movie theatres – was full. More than 1,120 Belgian civilians and Allied soldiers were watching The Plainsman, starring Gary Cooper. That day, Gunner Fletcher was likely off duty, taking a brief period of rest or leisure, as any young soldier might in a busy garrison city.
At 3:23 pm, a V-2 rocket, launched from the Netherlands, struck the cinema. Travelling faster than the speed of sound, it arrived without warning; those nearby heard the explosion before they ever heard the missile itself. Witnesses later recalled a split-second flash of light, followed instantly by the collapse of the balcony and ceiling in a devastating explosion.
The blast killed 567 people, including 296 British, Canadian, Polish, and American servicemen, along with 74 Belgian children. Eleven buildings were destroyed and hundreds more people were injured.
Keith was among the dead, one of eight men from his regiment who lost their lives that afternoon. Three were confirmed dead immediately, while Keith and four of his colleagues were initially listed as missing, believed killed.
Rescue workers spent more than a week clearing the rubble, and many victims were laid out at the city zoo for identification. A month later, Keith and the other four men from his regiment were officially recorded as killed in action in Western Europe.
At the time, Keith’s family would not have been told the full circumstances of his death. Like many next of kin, they would have received only the formal notification that he had been killed in action. The details – that he had been inside a cinema when a V-2 rocket struck Antwerp – were not included in wartime messages, and families often only learned the fuller story years later, if at all.
Although he was not in front line combat, Keith was still in a war zone. His death came not in battle, but in a moment of ordinary life, shattered without warning by one of the most devastating weapons of the war.
He was buried alongside 210 other servicemen who died in the Cinema Rex attack. In total, 211 servicemen killed that day are buried there – 201 British and 10 Canadian. This remains the deadliest V-bomb attack in history, striking Antwerp on the very day the German Ardennes offensive – later known as the Battle of the Bulge – began.
Gunner Keith Fletcher Clifton lies buried in the Schoonselhof Cemetery, Belgium
