Royal Marine Falls On Grenade To Save Comrades, Uses Rucksack To Survive

A Royal Marine who threw himself on to an exploding grenade to save the lives of his comrades is to receive the George Cross.

Lance Corporal Matthew Croucher stepped on a trip-wire which triggered the device during a night raid on a Taliban compound in Afghanistan.

Realising that three other members of his patrol would be killed if he did not act, he launched himself forward to smother the explosion, managing to twist on to his back to let his rucksack take the full force of the blast.

He's a tough-looking hombre, too:



I imagine that rucksack will be a treasured possession, passed down to his kids and grandkids.

Funnily enough, I remember reading a similar scenario in a Sgt. Rock comic book back in the 70's; in it, Sgt. Rock, who is helping to stack sandbags at a bivouac site, falls on a grenade, but has the foresight to interpose the full sandbag between his body and the grenade. I was Navy, not Army or Marines, so I wonder if those guys ever discuss these scenarios in bullshit sessions?

Update: More about the George Cross here.