If I remember correctly, the soldier in that novel was a deaf, blind quadriplegic who "talked" by tapping out Morse Code on his pillow.
I'm not sure I follow you.
Trumbo claimed that his novel was inspired by a real event. At the end of the First World War or a bit afterward, the Prince of Wales (the future Edward 8th, Duke of Windsor) was shown around a veterans' hospital and came upon a soldier similar to Trumbo's hero - armless, legless, blind, unable to hear or speak - and, after some moments dithering over how to convey supportive expressions, the Prince kissed the soldier, and then left with tears in his eyes.
That story, which has made the rounds since before Trumbo's novel was published in 1939 -- Trumbo claimed to have read the account of the Prince's visit in a newspaper -- is so similar to this story that I wonder if this latest story isn't just a new urban legend.