Royal Marine throws himself onto grenade

Sionnach Glic · Post by **Sionnach Glic** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 11:37 pm

Oh, and he survived.

Marine threw himself onto grenade

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. Oh, and possibly a VC too.

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.

Awesome.

Post by **Captain Seafort** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 11:43 pm

He deserves the VC for that. There have been VCs and GCs earned by people throwing themselves on grenades, but this is the first I've heard of someone doing so and surviving.

Post by **Tsukiyumi** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 11:53 pm

Yeah, that's pretty damn lucky. And he's a hell of an honorable, brave man. I hope they throw the best medals the British military have at him.

RK_Striker_JK_5 · Post by **RK_Striker_JK_5** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 12:19 am

What's the VC, Seafort? The Victoria's Cross?

sunnyside · Post by **sunnyside** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 1:03 am

Sometimes it's luck. But usually you make your own luck.

In this case the guy was smart enough to land on the thing rucksack first.

And he had body armor which is good for that sort of thing.

JudgeKing · Post by **JudgeKing** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 4:15 am

What he did was very heroic and deserving of a VC. And yes, it is the Victoria's Cross. I looked it up on Wikipedia.

mwhittington · Post by **mwhittington** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 6:28 am

Now THAT'S a hero, someone who puts his or her self in danger to save others, fully aware of what could happen. He deserves every medal he gets.

RK_Striker_JK_5 · Post by **RK_Striker_JK_5** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 8:24 am

Thanks, JudgeKing.

Post by **Mikey** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 1:00 pm

G-d bless Lance Croucher, and may he get everything he deserves for his heroism.

Sionnach Glic · Post by **Sionnach Glic** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 5:41 pm

What I find even more incredible than the miraculous fact that he survived, is the fact that he actually though about the situation before throwing himself, backpack first, onto the grenade. I mean he would have had, what, five seconds to think "right grenade, let's put the backpack down first to help myself survive" and then jump backwards and land back-down on the grenade!

Even more amazing is the fact that if this had happened in a movie, we would all have pointed and laughed at the stupid writers.

Post by **Tsukiyumi** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 6:51 pm

Rochey wrote:What I find even more incredible than the miraculous fact that he survived, is the fact that he actually though about the situation before throwing himself, backpack first, onto the grenade. I mean he would have had, what, five seconds to think "right grenade, let's put the backpack down first to help myself survive" and then jump backwards and land back-down on the grenade!
Even more amazing is the fact that if this had happened in a movie, we would all have pointed and laughed at the stupid writers.

Spot on, brother. The whole situation defies probability, as do numerous events in war (and, often in normal life).

Sionnach Glic · Post by **Sionnach Glic** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 7:20 pm

Well, given the amount of people in the world, and the fact that history has been going on for quite a while, strange and improbable things will happen eventually.
Doesn't make this guy any more bad-ass, though.

Post by **Tsukiyumi** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 7:26 pm

He's awesome for choosing the best possible outcome in that chain of events during a very short time-frame. It's very impressive, but still highly improbable, in human terms. Most people don't have much of a split-second crisis impulse, and would've stared at it until it blew up.

Sionnach Glic · Post by **Sionnach Glic** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 7:27 pm

I'm surprised the simple force of it going off underneath him didn't snap his back. Even with his quick thinking, he's very luck to walk away unharmed.

Post by **Tsukiyumi** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 7:34 pm

Yeah, I was going through that in my head, and I was amazed he didn't suffer internal injuries. Boggles the mind, really.