Life is hard?

I met a kind man this evening. He is well into his eighties and seems to accept the fact that he is close to the end of his life. When asked a few questions about his personal history for the records, he admits that he is getting forgetful and I'm better off asking his wife, "She takes care of me and all that stuff. She knows everything. That woman....she is an incredible woman. I don't know where I'd be without her." He seems overwhelmed with emotion just talking about her. I noticedduring report that he is a WWII vet. In my admission questions I asked him about it. He proceeded to explain to me from his fragmented memory as best he could of how he was "in the pit there with all my buddies around me dead, they thought we were all dead. They came over the top and I just let them all have it." He pauses long at this point woth tears in his eyes. "I've probably killed more people than most men have, but I was doing what I was supposed to do. I don't know why....." He trails off and gets choked up.
I ask him, "Why you? How come you lived?"
"Yea, why did they all die and I got to live. It's not easy...."
"You're left with having to live with what happened."
"They tell me I have something, Post traumatic stress or something like that. I never believed that stuff but sometimes the memories come flooding back. It's true I guess. I don't know what to do with it all. I mean those japs were the enemy but they're people too".
I'm left with trying to let him just share his feelings about it all.
I want to comfort him, to ask him if he has laid these things before his Creator to ask God what he should do about it all. Does he need God to forgive him? Does he want forgiveness? Is it even necessary? Wasn't he just following orders? Wasn't it kill or be killed? I did none of this but listen to him talk about it. One thing I do think about though, he has carried the weight of his past actions all these years......my life isn't so hard. My past is not so heavy in comparison.
Oh Lord help me to be grateful for all you have done for us, as well as all you have protected us from.