One presenting a soldier with a piece of silver (5)
I believe the answer is:
giver
'one presenting a' is the definition.
The answer is a person as well as being a singular noun. This is suggested by the definition.
'soldier with a piece of silver' is the wordplay.
'soldier' becomes 'GI' (term for US soldier).
'with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'a piece of silver' becomes 'ver' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'gi'+'ver'='GIVER'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for giver that I've seen before include "Bestower" , "presenter" , "Donor" , "Present source" .)