Wasn't she Leander's girl-friend?

What do you understand by the word "hero"?  Well, Greek mythology aside, the dictionary definition is "someone distinguished by exceptional courage, nobility, fortitude etc."  Note the word "exceptional".  So...?? Well, there's a growing tendency to classify someone as a hero for suffering as a result of just doing what was expected of them, or, even worse, by losing their life as a result of simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Tragic - yes, but heroic?  The problem has been brought into recent focus in America as a result of Donald Trump, a candidate for the Republican nomination for President critising those calling John McCain - another candidate - a hero when, as Trump sees it, all he did was get captured and spend over five years in a Vietnamese prisoner-of-war camp.  Anything but a walk in the park, but heroic? Is using the word in this way simply devaluing those whose exploits are truly heroic, as per the dictionary definition?