The phrase "as a hero when" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used in contexts where you are describing a situation or action that portrays someone as a hero at a specific moment or event.
Example: "He was recognized as a hero when he saved the child from the burning building."
Alternatives: "in the role of a hero during" or "as a hero at the moment when".
"By no means was I treated as a hero when I first came forward.
His father, 79, feted as a hero when he entered the room, was on the stage, but did not speak.
Mr. Mugabe was rightly seen as a hero when he led his country to majority rule in 1980.
Libya received Mr. Okamoto as a hero when he arrived there after Israel released him in 1985.
Onada, whose death from heart failure at a Tokyo hospital at the age of 91 was announced yesterday, was treated as a hero when he was finally found.
Jewell was hailed as a hero when he sounded the alarm after discovering a backpack containing pipe bombs at the Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta.
Her daughter later remarked on the public hypocrisy as the French press often portrayed Curie as an unworthy foreigner when she was nominated for a French honour, but would portray her as a French hero when she received a foreign one such as her Nobel Prizes.
Fifty-eight year old Maggie, a reserved and self-contained individual, finds fleeting fame as a "have-a-go" hero when she comes to the aid of a young woman being trafficked at Gatwick airport.
Manmohan Singh, the country's mild-mannered and media-shy Prime Minister, was hailed as a technocrat hero when his government won a resounding reëlection victory three years ago; lately, the paeans to managerial efficiency have been supplanted by a scorn and derision.
One exception is Ann Coulter, the conservative columnist, who has recently taken Mr. Cleland to task for "allowing Democrats to portray him as a war hero" when his injuries were the result of an accident, rather than enemy fire.
Laurent Kabila was welcomed as a conquering hero when his rebel forces marched into Kinshasa in 1997, ousting Congo's longtime despot, Mobutu Sese Seko.
