Years ago when I was very young and didn't know much about the more important things in life I had the opportunity to do guard duty at Battalion Headquarters a few times, and if you were Guard of Honor you got to read the citations for the 21 or so Medal of Honor awardees they had had over the years.
You could read the Silver Star commentaries as well.
As a general matter, all the MOH guys had done exactly what a soldier should do, and at considerable risk of life and limb ~ particularly the dead guys who got the award posthumously. The Silver Star guys did too ~ but with maybe fewer witnesses.
Audie Murphy was one of the MOH guys in that unit. He said you have to be doing whatever it is before you get scared so you just keep on doing it.
The young man here probably thought you were supposed to feel fear and then do it. Alas, fear paralyzes. You have to run ahead of it.
He should not express any guilt about receiving this award. The people of his nation are honored by his presence among their number.