I would like to add my favorite trope in this kind of scenario: No one else knows he's alive. He woke up in some nursing home by the coast, as far as possible from anyone that knows him. His family might have already hosted a funeral, his soldiers grieving a man too busy grieving himself.

Scars. He wakes up finding himself scared beyond recognition. A triumphant commander now reduced to a bundle of helpless ash. Sure, he lived, but at what cost? What kind of life can he lead now? To a prideful man, this might be worse than death.