Since we are really speaking of the concept, not just listing examples, let me give my favorite example from literature -- Frodo Baggins!
I only recently realized that a large part of what entranced me as a youngster about the Lord of the Rings was the heroism of the most unlikely heros of the story - the hobbits. Sitting among great and powerful heros while they argued about the danger and impossibility of destroying the One Ring, Frodo gets up and says simply, "I will take the Ring to Mordor, but I do not know the way" (mercifully, one of the great lines in the book that Jackson left intact in the movie). He eventually even left behind his companions, because he did not want to endanger them - he did not hope to succeed, but still would try. By the end he was literally crawling toward his goal.
Little Frodo was not powerful, he was not wise, he was not especially brave. He did not even know where he was going. Still, there was an even greater hero in the story - his servant Sam. Sam followed out of devotion to Frodo. But in the end, Frodo failed (for those who don't know the story, he refused to destroy the Ring in the end). Sam never gave up. At one point, when he thought his master was dead, he carried on alone (though he knew even less about what to do than did Frodo). When Frodo crawled, Sam carried him. He kept the last food, the last water, for Frodo, and went without.
Frodo and Sam are characters whom Tolkein wrote to represent Everyman. Tolkein's stories were of great "heroics" by mightly warriors and wizards, fighting overwhelming odds, etc., but in his greatest work he chose to show the greatest heroism by taking the most extreme un-heroic type of person (sheltered, un-magical, complacent little guys only about a meter tall, armed with big daggers that they didn't know how to use), and placed them in the most dangerous and horrifying circumstances imaginable. Circumstances were thrust upon them, but they did what they had to do not for themselves, but for something else (Frodo had a somewhat wider understanding of saving the world from evil, but Sam did it only because of his love for Frodo).
Heroism is doing something because you have to, not literally in the physical sense, but morally or compassionately. Doing it because it was the right thing to do (not that one has time to think it all out, but I venture to say that is the motivation, even when instinctual). Generally people praised as heroes deny "having done anything," and not unfrequently confess to having been, deep down, frightened the whole time. Often it would seem that you have no choice, but in fact you always do - you can do nothing, you can give up, you can run away, you can submit to death. I think Tolkein did a wonderful job of capturing the idea of heroism in these characters.
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