Yeah, I absolutely agree that he would have been involved whether TG were covering it or not. Also, I think you could see the affection Richard and Ben still have for each other. I mean, I know he made a couple of jokes (he had to, it would have been the elephant in the room otherwise and so it needed addressing) but I get the feeling it was done in jest rather than in a malicious way.
I read Ben's book (yes, I know, 'traitor' etc.) but it did seem that of the three it was Hammond that he bonded with the most and despite what has happened between him and TG, that kind of friendship or relationship doesn't simply go away. They got all their frustrations and anger out in the series immediately after he left with the jokes and the cardboard cutout drive-by shooting thing and now it seems they are ready to move on, accept that what happened happened and be friends again.
I say good on them, it would have been so easy to fall back into the TG stereotype of being childish about it but everyone involved was grown up and mature and made sure it didn't steal focus from what was a very touching and inspirational story of the soldiers.
Sorry if that was a bit wordy.
tl;dr version = All isn't 'forgiven' exactly, but they've moved on. We should too.