Royal Marine who threw himself onto an exploding grenade to save lives
 

Marine threw himself onto grenade

L/Cpl Matt Croucher suffered only shock and a bloodied nose
A Royal Marine who threw himself onto an exploding grenade to save the lives of his patrol has been put forward for the UK's highest military honour.

Lance Corporal Matt Croucher, 24, a reservist from Birmingham, survived because his rucksack and body armour took the force of the blast.

He was part of a reconnaissance troop in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, in February, when the incident happened.

The Ministry of Defence said he could be considered for the Victoria Cross.

Bloodied nose

A spokesman said L/Cpl Croucher's comrades had made a citation to their commanding officer and officers were now considering whether to put his name forward for the honour.

L/Cpl Croucher, a member of 40 Commando, had been searching a compound south of Sangin which was suspected as being used for making bombs to attack British and Afghan troops.

When a Taleban booby-trap grenade was tripped, L/Cpl Croucher jumped on to the device to absorb the force of the explosion with his backpack as his comrades dived for cover.

The blast blew his rucksack more than 30ft away but he remarkably suffered only severe shock and a bloodied nose in the incident.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/e...ds/7321647.stm

Wow.. lucky and a brave soldier..

wow what an incredible act of bravery

I'd say the guy has balls, but evidently the blast tore off his rucksack.

wow what a brainwashed puppet

that was a real soldier

too brave to that thing :):):)

That is the definition of HERO ....


When the term is used for any troop just because he/her is a troop , it is wrong.

So he jumped onto it back first?!!?

I am looking for a bodyguard....

"officers were now considering whether to put his name forward for the honour"

WTF do they have to consider??? You should get medal automatically for shit like that :2 cents:

That is amazing.

Jesus! Thats incredible... and an amazing testament to armor technology these days.

indeed..

wow you are really brave man. keep it up. i do salute you for being a real hero...you really show how brave you are.

He probably doesn't read GFY...

Cops and the Firefighter are the true heros.:2 cents:

You're sent to Iraq to kill and/or get killed.

QFT.

nicely done!

that is one amazing act of bravery or loyalty

he's probably just clumsy and while others jumped away, he stumbled on a grain of sand and fell on the bomb. Now they call him a hero.