To be fair, when that scene happened he was more of a generic villain who had directly killed as many of his own men as good guys in the movies. (Technically Tarkin gave the order to fire the Death Star). So not knowing the specifics, his redemption was both rooted for and satisfying. At least as a kid, that logic wasn’t even an issue, really.
Only later when we see how evil Vader actually was is when we get a little uncomfortable seeing him in Space Heaven.
