Corporal Gilroy was a medic with Medical Company, 187th Airborne Infantry Regimental Combat Team attached to Company M, 3rd Battalion. He was Killed in Action while tending his wounded comrades in North Korea on 21 October 1950. His remains were not recovered. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.

For his leadership and valor, Corporal Gilroy was awarded the Bronze Star Medal, the Purple Heart, the Combat Medical Badge, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.