We Have Plenty Of Heroes At Home

America loves its heroes. Pilot Scott O’Grady has been riding his wave of publicity since being rescued behind enemy lines; now we’ve got Zachary Mayo, a Marine who fell off an aircraft carrier into the Arabian Sea and survived 36 hours before he was saved.

These are the people who get the headlines, the book deals and the adoring crowds. Certainly they’ve accomplished incredible feats, maybe they even deserve the admiration. But are they heroes?

A good measure of a true hero can be found five-fold in Spokane. Just last week, some real heroes were honored for putting themselves at risk to help other people. In fact, they saved lives.

Four Spokane County Sheriff’s deputies received the rare Medal of Valor for distinguished service, given only three times before. These men - Jay Shuman, Jim Dresback, Randy Strzelecki and Steve Stevens - were inches from dying and remained in control.

Stevens stared down the barrel of a gun and, instead of blasting away, waited until the right moment to tackle the gunman. He did so because there was a bystander at risk of being hurt.

Shuman disarmed a man in the jail who pulled a knife on him and two other deputies.

Dresback and Strzelecki saved the lives of two women who had been injured when Richard Ross went on a shooting spree in the Spokane Valley, killing his brother and burning down his house.

All of the deputies say they were simply doing their jobs, but it’s not often enough that we reflect on just how dangerous and important that job is. The Medal of Valor is a good way to do that, though the deputies point out accurately that all of law enforcement deserves praise for day-to-day heroics.

Another thankless profession is nursing, and hundreds of medical professionals save lives daily without notice.

As an intensive care nurse, Brian Williams is trained to save lives - but visions of lawsuits almost kept him from helping a critically injured woman in a car accident in mid-November.

Williams overcame those fears and stopped to help. Because of that, Connie Grytdal was saved.

Grytdal’s family gave credit where it was due, but - like the deputies - Williams deflected the praise. That must be the other criteria for being a hero - modesty.

It’s fine to celebrate the fact that O’Grady and Mayo applied their military training in adverse conditions and survived, but we can all sleep better - and safer - knowing that people like Stevens and Williams are out there.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Anne Windishar/For the editorial board