The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Private First Class Lewis Grover (MCSN: 2500960), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action while serving as a Rifleman with Company H, Second Battalion, Fifth Marines, FIRST Marine Division in connection with combat operations against the enemy in the Republic of Vietnam. On 9 December 1969, Private First Class Grover was participating in a squad-sized patrol in a hostile sector of Quang Nam Province. When his squad stopped close be a river, he was assigned the task of filling canteens for the other members of his squad and, because of the large number of canteens he was required to carry, left his rifle and equipment with another Marine as he advanced to the river bank. While filling the canteens at the river, Private First Class Grover alertly observed a Viet Cong soldier peering from an underground bunker. Pretending not to have seen the hostile soldier, he finished filling the canteens and moved along the river away from the bunker. Picking up an entrenching tool which he found on the river bank, he then maneuvered to a position from which he could approach the bunker entrance unseen. When an enemy soldier carrying an automatic weapon came out of the bunker, Private First Class Grover, armed only with the entrenching tool, unhesitatingly attacked the Viet Cong. Knocking the hostile soldier down, he seized his weapon and moved to a protected position. By delivering a heavy volume of fire on the bunker, he pinned the enemy inside until the other members of his squad arrived and assisted him in capturing the soldiers remaining in the bunker. As a result of his heroic actions, Private First Class Grover undoubtedly prevented an enemy ambush and was directly responsible for the capture of five Viet Cong soldiers with their weapons. By his courage, bold initiate and unwavering devotion to duty at great personal risk, Private First class Grover upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and of the United States Naval Service.