Heroes.... in the main, my heroes are people I never learn the names of.
Like the flight deck Chief with the PKP fire extinguisher:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chuiyXQKw3I
But in fairness, he's only a borderline "hero", because it was his job to be there and do that.
The guy who isn't a fireman, but runs into a burning building to rescue complete strangers, because the Fire Department isn't there yet and the people needing rescue can't wait...
The guy who risks getting run down while he puts out flares and directs traffic around the wreck on the fogged in freeway, where the people involved in the wreck are folks he never learns the names of and will never see again....
The guy who runs toward the hazmat-placarded truck overturned on the road, to make sure the driver gets out safely...
The guys who turn out in the hundreds or thousands, often taking time away from their paid jobs and their families, to go out into the wilderness and hunt for someone who's missing...
The guy who automatically dives in, and possibly ends up drowning himself, trying to save a random child in distress in the water...
The guy who stops in the middle of his evacuation from the incoming hurricane, and sends his family on their way while he stays on the side of the road along the evacuation route, offering food and water to those who have been stuck in the evac traffic jam for hours or days...
...those are heroes.
And the fact that you never learn their names is part of what makes them heroes, to my mind. They're amateurs. I agree with Bobby Jones on the subject of amateurs. From the Latin word for 'love'. They do those things for love of their fellow men, or because their own self-love wouldn't survive them refusing to jump to the rescue.
Don't get me wrong, I have an immense respect for firemen, for cops, for EMTs, for Marines... but nonetheless, Bobby was right: Once you do it for money, you can't call it love anymore.