DECATUR - After U.S. soldiers discovered a large cache of weapons and chemicals in the Diyala province of Iraq, near the Iranian border, insurgents attacked soldiers who were guarding the find.

In the daylong firefight that ensued, Army Spc. Timothy Myers, 22, helped turn back the enemy "by fixing enemy forces with a suppressive rate of fire, directing the rest of the platoon to the enemy and defending over 1,000 plus pounds of explosives," according to an Army citation.

A 2004 graduate of Okaw Valley High School in Bethany, Meyers was presented with the Army Commendation Medal with Valor Device by Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, in a ceremony at a command outpost northeast of Baghdad on Nov. 10.

Odierno, the second highest U.S. military leader in Iraq, flew into the post by helicopter to present commendation medals to Myers and two other soldiers.

The citation accompanying the medal says the award is for "exceptional meritorious service as the M249 gunner of Bravo Team, 1st Squad, 1st Platoon while assigned to Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment ¦ Spc. Myers' courage, vision and professional competence contributed directly to the overall success of the battalion." The M249 is a light machine gun.

Jim Myers said his son's unit suffered no casualties in the firefight. Jim Myers and his wife, Dale Lynn Myers, both work at Miles Chevrolet Inc. in Decatur.

Jim Myers, who talks to his son by phone, said the battle between U.S. soldiers and insurgents began as the soldiers were securing the area where they had found the cache, including nitric acid, a chemical used in making explosives.

"They were attacked by RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades) and machine gun fire," Jim Myers said. "Within a day, they secured the site."

Timothy Myers, an infantryman with the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, based in Fort Lewis, Wash., joined the Army in January 2005. After basic training, he joined a Stryker unit, a combat unit that uses eight-wheeled, all-terrain armored vehicles. Myers is stationed at Forward Operating Base Warhorse, near Baquba, about 40 miles northeast of Baghdad.

Myers was deployed to Iraq in April 2007. He is expected to complete his 15-month deployment in June.

Huey Freeman can be reached at hfreeman@herald-review.com or 421-6985.