A real one:

We have an elderly neighbor named Ernie, who is the quietest, gentlest, most unassuming man you can imagine. He delights in his wife, children, grandchildren, garden, and his small dog. Ernie is a small man, and shy.

Imagine our astonishment in 1995 when Ernie's picture, complete with medals, appeared in our local newspaper on the 50th anniversary of a WWII battle (doesn't matter which one). He had, single-handedly, and against orders, dug into a huge pile of earth left by a bomb that had just exploded, as he thought that some soldiers might have survived. His lieutenant told him to get out of there, as bombs were falling all around the area. Ernie refused, dug down, and found three soldiers, alive, who had been protected by a sheet of corrugated metal. They certainly would have died had he not dug down for them.

All the people on our street shook Ernie's hand while he was working in his garden. All he said was, "Well, everyone did what they had to do."

Ernie is near 90 now, very frail, probably weighs less than 100 pounds, has had to give up his driver's license. No one, looking at him, would ever guess what this quiet man actually is.

So he's not famous, at least not past our street. But he's a real hero.