Hero of four Taliban bombings is awarded the Military Cross

(PA)

Ricky Furgusson risked his life around improvised bombs so often that there was always a chance that one would get him in the end. It happened on 13 January, when a Taliban bomb went off in his face.

The 25-year-old corporal from Telford, Staffordshire, lost both legs, some fingers and an eye, and has scars across his face. Before the explosion, he was an outstanding soldier and a skilled boxer, popular with his army colleagues because of his quick sense of humour.

Now, only the sense of rumour remains as he faces months, possibly years, of reconstructive surgery for injuries that left him barely recognisable. He is learning to walk on stilts. But at least his courage is to be recognised with the announcement yesterday that he is being awarded the Military Cross.

The citation records four occasions when he risked his life for others during his service with the 4th Battalion The Rifles in the Sangin district of Afghanistan. Last October, when his squad was hit by a huge improvised bomb, Corporal Furgusson rushed to help a stricken comrade, without any regard to the risk. His act saved a man's life.

A month later, he went to the aid of two soldiers from a nearby patrol who had been wounded by another bomb. Later that day, his own patrol was hit. The explosion blew one soldier off his feet leaving him horribly injured, some distance from his comrades.

Despite the risk that more bombs could go off, Corporal Furgusson made sure that his own men were safe, and reached the injured soldier to administer first aid on the battlefield and then arrange for him to be evacuated. That saved his life.

At the end of the year, another soldier was injured by an improvised explosive device (IED). Corporal Furgusson stabilised him and had him evacuated within 35 minutes – but he was too badly injured to survive.

His citation says: "Furgusson's bravery, personally ignoring the ever-present IED threat when dashing to the aid of wounded men, and his outstanding leadership, time and again rallying his soldiers in the disorienting aftermath of IED strikes, saved men's lives. For his selfless actions he is to be awarded the MC."

He said yesterday: "I had a slight inkling I might get an award but an MC was totally out of the window and I wasn't expecting that at all. I don't think it has quite sunk in, and it won't until I walk into Buckingham Palace."

It was also announced yesterday that an army expert who has cleared more roadside bombs than anyone in history has been awarded the George Medal. During his six-month tour of duty in Helmand province, Sergeant Major Karl Ley, 29, defused 139 of the Taliban's IEDs. This was more than twice as many as any other bomb disposal expert, and his medal citation praised his "sheer determination, guile and awesome bravery".

In one operation he disposed of 42 bombs in 72 hours. At times he had to clear bombs when the Taliban was setting off mortars or firing only 100 feet away. Yesterday Sgt Maj Ley, a married father-of-three from Sheffield, South Yorkshire, joked: "If you're being shot at, you get down on the deck. So you might as well get rid of the bomb while you're down there."

And Rifleman Ross Robinson, a 21- year-old from Leeds, is to receive the Queen's Gallantry Medal posthumously for continuing to clear the ground of bombs using a metal detector after he had been blown through the air, injuring his spine. He was discharged from hospital in May, but killed in a road accident 24 hours later.