Are Missionaries Heroes?

I received a forwarded email written by a former member of the United States Air Force, Joseph Calderone.  Here's part of what he said:

IMO the word "Hero" has lost it's real meaning. Hell everybody that served is now a hero. It's like giving everybody a trophy for just participating.

I remember on one occasion when I was wearing my KC hat a guy walked up and asked what a KC 135 was. I politely told him what all the stuff on my hat meant. He was interested and said "All you guys from the Vietnam war are hero's. I told him no, we just did our job. If you must label us you can call us Patriots, but not Heroes. 

He asked me what he and others his age could do to show their gratitude to all our troops. Told him to sign up as we did and sign that blank check. He thanked me for my service and as usual I just said as I always do, "It was a privilege". I never say "You are welcome".

Joe

This got me to thinking about parallels within the Christian church.  Do we regard missionaries as heroes?  Maybe they are just normal Christians, and the rest are draft-dodgers!  Do we regard it as a privilege (rather than a sacrifice or even simply as duty) to go to difficult places where Christ has not yet been preached?

Every Christian is either a missionary or an imposter.  -- Charles Spurgeon