These were his very words.

They are army slang, and mean that he is a brave soldier.

A young man, a Mr.Edward Brennon from Newbern, a sort of athlete, came over with him, and they have been constantly together.

I did not see this Mr.Brennon, but I hear that he, too, is gallantly great, and also a regular fighting so-and-so, as these rough men put it in their slang.
"'Wilbur spoke of Merle's writing about the war, and about America's being rotten to the core because of capital that people want to keep from the workingman, and he says he now sees that Merle must have been misled; as he puts it in his crude, forceful way, this man's country has come to stay.

He says that is what he always says to himself when he has to go over the top, while he is still scared and before he grows angry--"This man's country has come to stay." He says this big American Army would laugh at many of Merle's speeches about America and the war.
He says the country is greater than any magazine, even the best.