He survived with just a nosebleed and a few cuts after his rucksack absorbed the blast.
Yesterday it was formally announced he is to get the top award – first revealed by The Sun – as senior officers called him “exceptional among the exceptional”.
The George Cross ranks beside the VC but is awarded for extreme gallantry out of combat.
Matt, of 40 Commando, also showed off his destroyed helmet and backpack.
The pack, which contained a radio battery and medical kit, was shredded with holes.
He said: “Getting away with lying on the grenade was 90 per cent luck, it had very little to do with skill.”
Describing the horror when a tripwire was triggered, he added: “I knew the best thing was to smother the blast so my team wouldn’t get it. A lot of thoughts went through my mind as I lay on it.
Praise ... Matt Croucher GC with Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, left, and First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Jonathan Band
I knew I would definitely die so I was just waiting for the bang.”
Senior officers said Matt, an ex-regular Marine and bodyguard from Solihull, West Midlands, undoubtedly saved the life of his team commander Corporal Adam Lesley and possibly two other men as well.
Heaping praise on him, Britain’s most senior military officer, Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, said: “His exemplary behaviour and supreme heroism are fully deserving of the highest recognition.”
First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Jonathon Band said Matt’s action “epitomises the ethos of selfless devotion to duty, courage and comradeship” in the Marines.
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