Hero?

I am having a little bit of a struggle with the use of this word recently in press coverage of things and wonder if we have devalued the word a little as we seem to use it so glibly.
I have noted that every time one of our armed forces loses their life they are hailed as heroes when often it seems that the deaths happen when there is no actual fighting taken place and no heroic deed in the old fashioned sense. For me heroes are the sort of people who fought at the battle of Rorke's drift where the highest number of Victoria crosses were awarded, or the likes of Douglas Bader who battled against immense odds to continue flying. I am concious of how tragic each death is and do feel that it is even more tragic where we are involved in a war we shouldn't be.
The latest thing that made me question the use of this word was an item in the local paper last night about a lady who had been stung and gone into anaphylactic shock and her husband had gone to fetch a neighbour and had saved her life. The paper said he was a hero and no doubt to his good lady he is a hero but is this the right word to use for him - perhaps not that long ago we would have called him a 'life saver'.
Well over to you dear reader - any thoughts on this?