He had had a slight wound which quickly got well.
But his speech was gone.

That came back, too, later.

But then he wouldn't talk and he'd insist on going off by himself.

He's just knocked out--you can't find out just how much gumption he has left.
That's what the war did for him: it stupefied him.

Well, it's stupefied lots of folks who have never seen a trench.