Divine Providence Saves Future Star During Army Service

Liberty Check

• Individual faith and personal responsibility saved a young man’s life when government orders could not
• Military service in the 1950s demanded discipline and readiness without modern bureaucratic protections
• One man’s story reminds Americans that divine providence often overrides human planning

British-born singer Engelbert Humperdinck is sharing a remarkable story of survival that traces back to his time serving in the British Army during the mid-1950s.

The 90-year-old performer revealed that a simple untied shoelace changed the entire course of his military assignment and ultimately preserved his life.

“The way they choose people and when you’re in training, you form a rank of threes and the adjutant goes around with the sergeant major, and he goes counts out 24 people, and they’ll say hit Cyprus, Germany, Belgium or whatever it is, wherever you’re going to.”

Humperdinck explained that when the moment came to receive his posting, he noticed his bootlace had come undone.

He paused to tie it, causing him to miss his spot in the formation.

“So I ran after I tied my shoelace and stood where I possibly could in the front line, and they started counting Malaya, Cyprus, and I was the next one. Germany. I went to Germany. I was just I just missed Cyprus by one.”

The singer later discovered that the group assigned to Cyprus never reached their destination.

“I think God was watching over me because, later on, I found out all the people that went to Cyprus never got there. They got killed in an ambush on the way to Nicosia.”

Humperdinck described his service in Mulheim, Germany as “an interesting couple of years” and expressed gratitude that he avoided the tragic fate that befell his would-be comrades.

The entertainer, born Arnold George Dorsey, went on to achieve worldwide fame beginning in 1967 with his hit “Release Me.”

His career has spanned more than five decades and includes over 140 million records sold globally.

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