Welcome on board Panzer Ace,
Firstly, I think the elite units of any fighting force tend to attract the most attention, and thus the unfortunate foot sloggers of the ordinary 'poor bloody infantry' recede into an anonymous or indistinguishable mass; Green Howards, Coldstream etc just seem associated with the endless drudgery of attritional warfare and the public tend to lose the understanding of heroism as expressed incrementally in tough conditions - the regulars are more like heavyweights going the distance on points rather than winning or losing bouts via knockouts.
Secondly, I think that there is a tendency to associate certain operations with certain units. Thus the capture of Eben Emael will always be associated with the 70-something Fallschirmjager that landed on the roof rather than the enormous support arriving in the form of the 6th Army. Similarly the heroism at Arnhem will be forever a British Paratrooper event in the eye of the public, despite the substantial presence of American and other forces, and the Commando units will be associated with the raid on St Nazaire even if there was heavy sacrifice by the Royal Navy's MTB fleet.
Thirdly, I think the uniforms of the paras do distinguish them from the standard issue, and thus make them more interesting for collectors, as do the weaponary - they were armed to the teeth with machine guns etc in comparison to the ratio of standard rifles issued to the ordinary regiments.
Fourthly, I think that in terms of mass mobilisation, the regular regiments are associated with grand-fathers, grand-uncles, neighbours and so forth in one's locality. On the other hand, units such as the paras tended to have a certain mystique beyond the draft.
