Bulletproof: One Marine's Ferocious Account of Close Combat Behind Enemy Lines

March 2003 Fighting Alongside us Navy Seals, Matt Croucher is One of the First 200 Soldiers into Iraq

Oct 2004 on a Routine Patrol Through Iraq, A Roadside Bomb Goes off; Suffers a Fractured Skull

Dec 2005 with a $1M Bounty Placed on Westerners' Heads, Finds Himself Caught up in a Tribal Battle

Nov 2007 Pinned Down by Fierce Enemy Fire, he Administers Life-Saving First Aid to an Injured Comrade

Fed 2008 Throws Himself onto a Grenade to Save his Comrades

July 2008 Awarded the George Cross

Afghanistan, February 2008: in an out-of-control, dangerous country torn apart by war, littered with Taliban guerrilla forces and thousands of miles from home, Lance Corporal Matt Croucher, a Royal Marine with 40 Commando, accidentally activates a grenade whilst on a covert night patrol behind enemy lines.

With only a split second to react, Croucher's instincts kick in and he throws himself beside the grenade, reasoning that saving the lives of his three comrades is worth sacrificing his own.

Miraculously, and against all the odds, Croucher survived, and mere hours later was taking part in a gun battle against local insurgent fighters, demonstrating a raw, unique courage and devotion to military duty that would later see him awarded the George Cross-a distinction bestowed only on those who perform acts of the greatest heroism or of the most conspicuous courage in circumstances of extreme danger.

But Croucher's story is much more than just one heroic act in isolation. His is a life of bullets, blood and loyalty, and of lives saved and lives taken. From a young marine aged 19, when he was one of the first 200 Allied soldiers to invade Iraq back in 2003, through to his second tour of duty in 2004, when he suffered a fractured skull following a roadside bomb attack, and then being thrust into hellish Afghanistan, Croucher has seen vicious fighting, intense gun battles, and witnessed the death and injury of Close colleagues on an almost daily basis.

This is his Incredible Story: A Searing, Vivid, Non-Stop Account of one Man's Heroism and Courage Under Fire, in the Most Gruelling Combat Environment Since the second World War.

Lance Corporal Matt Croucher grew up in the Midlands and joined the Royal Marines aged 16, passing through the legendary thirty-week training programme and into 40 Commando despite a series of Injuries. He served two tours with the Marines in Iraq before transferring into the Royal Marines Reserves and returning to Iraq as a private security contractor with the United Nations. He rejoined the 40 Commando for the ultimate challenge of a tour of duty in war-torn Afghanistan in September 2007.

Five months later he faced down death by diving on a tripwired grenade to save the lives of his men. Awarded the George Cross, his incredible story of heroism has featured in newspapers, TV and radio shows around the world.