"Robert Davis spent a significant part of the last six weeks standing by himself in the middle of Camelback Ranch.

Every now and then, the security guard at the Dodgers' spring training complex would tell overzealous autograph seekers that they had to stand behind the ropes along the dirt paths leading from the clubhouse to the practice fields. Sometimes he made small talk with other workers.

But interspaced in these countless hours of tedium were memories of a lifetime.

"When people get a taste of being a hero you don't know what it'll do to them, if it'll make their heads blow up," Davis said. "I was pleased to see that it didn't do that to him."

The 43-year-old retired Air Force sergeant was talking about Chad Billingsley, whom he befriended in the final few weeks of spring training.

Davis said Billingsley reminded him of any other kid from Defiance, Ohio, their shared hometown.

"Very down to earth," Davis said.

Davis' wish at the start of spring training was to get Billingsley and former manager Tom Lasorda to autograph a copy of his retirement papers from the Air Force.

But an autograph request turned into a 45-minute conversation in the parking lot. Davis told him how he played baseball at Defiance High, which is also Billingsley's alma mater. Billingsley told him that when he didn't pitch, he often played third base, a position Davis also played.

Davis later took Billingsley on a tour of nearby Luke Air Force Base, where he used to work. Davis recalled how when they were on the base, they saw 100 or so officers file out toward one of the landing strips.

A plane had brought back the remains of a soldier who was killed in Iraq.

Davis said that Billingsley stood respectfully as the wooden coffin was unloaded from the plane. Near them were the officers and two busloads of the fallen soldier's family members."