(Citation Needed) – SYNOPSIS: The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918 (amended by an act of July 25, 1963), takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to First Lieutenant David A. Provencher, United States Army, for gallantry in connection with military operations against an opposing armed force on 16 June 2010 while serving with Company C, 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division, in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM in Afghanistan. On that date, Lieutenant Provencher’s platoon was serving as the quick-reaction force for a joint U.S. Special Forces and Afghan National Army Commando operation in the volatile northern Afghanistan province of Kunduz when Special Forces units suffered a series of weapons malfunctions that jeopardized the mission. Lieutenant Provencher moved his platoon forward and established two mounted positions with his vehicles, then went by foot with another soldier to meet up with the Special Forces team leader and assess the battlefield situation. On numerous occasions as he moved forward, Lieutenant Provencher was exposed to enemy fire from small arms, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars. When Lieutenant Provencher spotted enemy fighters moving into positions north and west of his platoon’s location, he again moved through enemy fire to place his men in secure positions. His quick placement of troops and their precise fire stopped the enemy’s advance and created in lull in the fighting, enabling the engineers to continue their road clearing operations. Within minutes of resuming their operations, an improvised explosive device detonated under a route clearance vehicle being used by the engineers. Knowing the engineers may have been wounded, Lieutenant Provencher led two of his soldiers through intense enemy fire to the overturned vehicle. As his soldiers worked to help the wounded men, he provided security and suppressed enemy fire while repositioning the other members of his platoon to better secure the blast site. He then led the three wounded men to a Special Forces medic and returned to his troops, where he discovered a mortally wounded engineer near the overturned vehicle. He quickly recovered the soldier and placed him in a vehicle for evacuation. When he went to the rescue of a fifth engineer he found trapped under the gunner’s turret of the destroyed vehicle, the enemy fire intensified, but seemingly oblivious to the onslaught of fire from small arms, machine guns and mortars, Lieutenant Provencher worked furiously to free the soldier. The withering enemy fire drove the troops back, leaving him as an exposed target. Seeing that he was trying to recover the trapped engineer, the enemy forces concentrated their fire on him. Refusing to leave the fallen soldier, Lieutenant Provencher continued his efforts to free him from the overturned vehicle. Lieutenant Provencher’s resolve inspired and revitalized his platoon to continue fighting, and a recovery vehicle was brought forward to lift the wreckage off the fallen engineer. Lieutenant Provencher then carried the body of the dead soldier through heavy fire to another vehicle for evacuation, and then he and the members of his platoon provided suppressive fire until the remaining engineers and their equipment moved out of the enemy’s line of fire. Lieutenant Provencher’s gallant actions and dedicated devotion to duty, without regard for his own life, were in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, the 10th Mountain Division, and the United States Army.