If anybody who was ever in combat gets in the news the media will inevitably at one point or another label that person a war hero.
Within the spheres of Manhattan and LA veterans are semi-mythical creatures. Media sorts may not necessarily respect millitary service but they find it so unutterably rare and remarkable that they simply must find a way to express their wonder at people who were actually in the military. So John Kerry's a war a hero, even if everybody else in the country has a fat uncle with better war stories.