Cat, I love you like a brother, but I thought the writing was poignant. To me it spoke of a war weary nation turning their attention away from a horror story, and getting on with their business of surviving. They needed the morale boost brought by these heroes, but once the cloud was lifted, Americans found they no longer needed the crutch. And so the heroes got left behind without so much as a thank you. Like Andy's toys when Andy left for college in Toy Story.
To me, that's all the author is trying to say.
Turns out, even though the young readers seemed to have discarded their heroes, they never truly forgot, and came back.