I think it is rather heroic to go into a war zone where everyone is trying to kill you, and you have no way of shooting back.
The stories from World War I are worse than anything I have ever read.
There are only so many stories in the world... Duplication of plots is bound to happen because most writers have read very extensively in their genre and have become aware they are adding an extra layer to the meta-narrative, finding a new spin on the original.