[DaveyB]

Flying dangerous missions is courageous, but heroic involves success. From the movie Patton"I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor, dumb bastard die for his country." The variant here is "You don't win a war by being captured by the enemy, you win by capturing the enemy" - No offense to Hogan's Heroes.

[Gay State Conservative]

...but heroic involves success.

If that's true explain why so many Medals of Honor are awarded posthumously to men who died trying to save a wounded buddy or trying to prevent a position being captured.