Leroy Wayne Gillman was born in Crescent, Oklahoma in July 1922, but no additional information regarding his family or early life is available. It is believed that the family moved to the Pajaro Valley and that Leroy attended Watsonville High School for one or two years between 1936 and 1939 but did not graduate. Following his school years, he moved to Contra Costa County, where he remained single and was employed as an unskilled laborer in the furniture manufacturing business.

Leroy was inducted into the US Army as a private on December 17, 1942. After completing basic and advanced training, he was assigned to an unspecified unit serving in Europe.

Family genealogical records on the Internet indicate that he was killed in action on April 5, 1945, in Germany. The location of the remains of Leroy Wayne Gillman has not been found.

(NARA2; Ancestry.com; WRP May 25, 1945)