Sentence:  For Marvin Goulding , like Giovanni Martini , the bugler boy who carried Custer 's last message , or Margarito Lopez , the one-man Army on Leyte , <WSD>was</WSD> a Garryowen , through and through . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun)