Wayne McKinnon Gilmore was born in Mount Hope, Kansas in November 1921. His family moved to Opelousas [Annotator's Note: Opelousas, Louisiana] in 1922. His father was a farmer and worked at a car garage. He had two younger brothers. During High School, Gilmore would work at the car garage in the evening and on the weekends. He loved automobiles. Gilmore graduated from high school and attended the local vocational technical school to take classes in automotive electronics and automotive corporations. On Sunday, 7 December 1941, Gilmore was at the movie theater when they cut the movie off and announced the attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii]. Gilmore had no idea where Pearl Harbor was located. In September 1942, he chose to enlist in the Marine Corp because he wanted a challenge. He was sent to boot camp in San Diego [Annotator's Note: San Diego, California]. He remembered learning tactical training and how to shoot a 1903 Springfield rifle [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber Model 1903, or M1903, Springfield bolt action rifle] and M1 rifle [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1 semi-automatic rifle, also known as the M1 Garand], Reising submachine gun [Annotator's Note: .45 caliber Reising M50 submachine gun], and carbine [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1 semi-automatic carbine]. He was sent to communications school, and then sent to Camp Elliott [Annotator's Note: San Diego, California] where he was assigned to a wire platoon. He was then sent to Camp Linda Vista [Annotator's Notes: San Diego, California] and waited around with nothing to do. His second lieutenant came in one morning and asked for volunteers to go overseas. Gilmore and others volunteered even though they did not have their dog tags and had not finished their physicals. They arrived on the transport and were told to find bunks.

Wayne McKinnon Gilmore was transported overseas on a ship making its first voyage. As they headed towards South America, there were two false alarms when everyone headed to their battle stations. They made short stops along their route helping different areas set up telephone communications. While on the island of American Samoa, Gilmore recalled climbing a coconut tree while doing field communications. He became part of Signal Company, Defense Force, Samoan Group. This group was tasked with installing a dial system on the island. Then they got on a Liberty ship [Annotator's Note: a class of quickly produced cargo ship] and headed toward Hawaii. They ended up leaving on the tail end of a hurricane. He recalled it being the roughest sea water he has ever been in.

While on a transport ship, Wayne McKinnon Gilmore was on crow's nest duty [Annotator's Note: the crow's nest is a platform high up on a ship's mast where look outs are posted]. One night, he saw a ship heading right for them. He contacted the captain and they were able to maneuver around the ship in time. Gilmore returned to the Unites States for a while [Annotator's Note: after spending time on American Samoa]. He continued to receive combat training. Gilmore also became an "unofficial instructor" and assisted with training men. He eventually volunteered for a pole line construction job in Camp Pendleton [Annotator's Note: San Diego, California] and ran a power line out there. He also worked as a typist, and later payroll clerk, for the payroll office. Gilmore was slyly able to give out passes to some of his fellow mates and they would go to Los Angeles and buy alcohol from the liquor stores. Gilmore said they would always bring some back to him, but he did not drink, so he just put it in a footlocker. Later, he found out his warrant officer was an alcoholic and one day, he locked himself in his office with Gilmore's liquor because he did not want to be transferred. Gilmore was scheduled to go on a 13 day leave but was abruptly transferred overseas again. Gilmore remembered that everywhere he went, he always seemed to run into someone from Opelousas [Annotator's Note: Opelousas, Louisiana].

Wayne McKinnon Gilmore went back overseas and joined the 3rd Marine Division while they were finishing up on Guam [Annotator's Note: Guam, Mariana Islands]. He was assigned to an artillery unit [Annotator's Note: 12th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division] in a communications section. He remembered the units were getting ready for the invasion of Japan. They practiced using the DUKWs [Annotator's Note: amphibious truck] for the invasions. Gilmore was the only communications person in his battery that could operate a sound-powered telephone, regular telephone and voice radio. He had a couple instances where he went out with some of the guys who were target practicing and one of the shots hit a couple of Japanese, one was wounded and the other was killed. Another time, Gilmore was wandering around in some woods and came upon a Japanese soldier. They both pulled their rifles on each other. The Japanese soldier surrendered. Later Gilmore found out that neither one of them had ammunition. Gilmore remembered they worked on developing a way to protect the infantry men surrounding their tanks from the Japanese. Gilmore said they were testing with a radio-controlled fuse when they found out that the Japanese were surrendering. Gilmore was put on office duties until he was shipped home.

Wayne McKinnon Gilmore was working in an office helping with transfer lists to send Marines back to the United States by their home state. When it was time for all the men from Louisiana to be transferred, Gilmore was not on the list. [Annotator's Note: Gilmore is from Opelousas, Louisiana]. Gilmore knew why. The Sergeant Major in the office did not know the duties and removed Gilmore from the list. Gilmore then added his name to the next list and spoke with the colonel who then took care of everything. He was put on a ship and sent to San Diego [Annotator's Note: San Diego, California]. When they got off the ship he was sent to Camp Pendleton [Annotator's Note: San Diego, California]. Gilmore was discharged on 26 December 1946. He visited his relatives in California before he headed home to Opelousas. He adjusted to civilian life easily, however he got to know a prisoner of war from a nearby town who had a difficult time adjusting back to civilian life. Gilmore helped him when he could. Gilmore suffered only from one non-combat injury during the war. He used the G.I Bill to help start his furniture store business. Later he opened First Federal Saving and Loan in 1957 and life has been good to him.