An heroic Midland Royal Marine who jumped on an exploding grenade to save the lives of his comrades has become part of a select group of 20 living recipients of the George Cross.

Lance Corporal Matthew Croucher, aged 24, was taking part in a mission to uncover a suspected Taliban bomb-making factory in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, in February when he stepped on a trip-wire and triggered the device. He threw himself onto the grenade to save his colleagues, and today he said that he would “definitely do it again”.

He added: “I knew I would definitely die. I thought ‘I’ve set the bloody thing off and I’m going to do whatever it takes to protect the others’.

“I figured that if I could keep my head and torso intact I’d probably survive any other injuries – although I fully expected to lose a limb.

L/Cpl Croucher, of Olton, Solihull, twisted his back onto the grenade so his rucksack, containing a medical pack, shoulder-launched rocket and medical equipment, took the full force of the blast. His three pals suffered cuts and bruises, while L/Cpl Croucher was thrown in the air but received nothing more serious than a nosebleed.

He said there were at least 12 other occasions during his service in Iraq and Afghanistan when he thought he was going to die.

“I’m very tight with the three other guys,” he said. “There have been a few times when they’ve saved my bacon.

“I knew a grenade like this had a killing circumference of about five metres.

“So I got down with my back to the grenade and used my body as a shield. It was a case of either having four of us as fatalities or badly wounded, or one.”

The George Cross ranks alongside the Victoria Cross as the highest decoration for acts of gallantry.

The only difference is that the GC is awarded for acts not in the presence of the enemy, but the level of heroism required for the two honours is the same.

To date, 157 GCs have been awarded directly, with 47 of those awarded since 1947, since King George issued a Warrant for the award in 1941.