Who Was Kilroy?

[JohnBaker3]

Who remembers Kilroy ????





He is engraved in stone in the

National War Memorial in

Washington , DC- back in a

Small alcove where very few

People have seen it. For the

WWII generation, this will

Bring back memories. For

You younger folks, it's a bit

Of trivia that is a part of our

American history. Anyone born

In 1913 to about 1950, is familiar

With Kilroy. No one knew why

He was so well known- but

Everybody seemed to get into it.

So who was Kilroy?

In 1946 the American Transit

Association, through its radio

Program, "Speak to America ,

" sponsored a nationwide contest

To find the real Kilroy, offering

A prizeof a real trolley car to the

Person who could prove himself

To be the genuine article. Almost

40 men stepped forward to make

That claim, but only James Kilroy

From Halifax , Massachusetts ,

Had evidence of his identity.

'Kilroy' was a 46-year old shipyard

Worker during the war who worked

As a checker at the Fore River

Shipyard in Quincy . His job was

To go around and check on the

Number of rivets completed.

Riveters were on piecework and

Got paid by the rivet. He would

Count a block of rivets and put

A check mark in semi-waxed

Lumber chalk, so the rivets

Wouldn't be counted twice.

When Kilroy went off duty,

The riveters would erase the mark.

Later on, an off-shift inspector

Would come through and count

The rivets a second time, resulting

In double pay for the riveters.

One day Kilroy's boss called him

Into his office. The foreman was

Upset about all the wages being

Paid to riveters, and asked him

To investigate. It was then he

Realized what had been going

On. The tight spaces he had to

Crawl in to check the rivets

Didn't lend themselves to lugging

Around a paint can and brush,

So Kilroy decided to stick with

The waxy chalk. He continued to

Put his check mark on each job

He inspected, but added 'KILROY

WAS HERE' in king-sized letters

Next to the check, and eventually

Added the sketch of the chap

With the long nose peering over

The fence and that became part

Of the Kilroy message.

Once he did that, the riveters

Stopped trying to wipe away

His marks. Ordinarily the rivets

And chalk marks would have

Been covered up with paint.

With the war on, however,

Ships were leaving the Quincy

Yard so fast that there wasn't

Time to paint them. As a result,

Kilroy's inspection "trademark"

Was seen by thousands of

Servicemen who boarded the

Troopships the yard produced.

His message apparently rang a bell

With the servicemen, because they

Picked it up and spread it all over

Europe and the South Pacific.

Before war's end, "Kilroy" had been

here, there, and everywhere on the

long hauls to Berlin and Tokyo . To

the troops outbound in those ships,

however, he was a complete

mystery; all they knew for sure was

that someone named Kilroy had

"been there first." As a joke, U.S.

servicemen began placing the

graffiti wherever they landed,

claiming it was already there when

they arrived.

Kilroy became the U.S. super-GI who

had always "already been" wherever

GIs went. It became a challenge to

place the logo in the most unlikely

places imaginable (it is said to be

atop Mt. Everest , the Statue of

Liberty , the underside of the Arc

de Triomphe, and even scrawled in

the dust on the moon.

As the war went on, the legend grew.

Underwater demolition teams routine

ly sneaked ashore on Japanese-held

islands in the Pacific to map the

terrain for coming invasions by U.S.

troops (and thus, presumably,

were the first GI's there). On one

occasion, however, they reported

seeing enemy troops painting over

the Kilroy logo!

In 1945, an outhouse was built for

the exclusive use of Roosevelt, Stalin,

and Churchill at the Potsdam

conference. Its' first occupant was

Stalin, who emerged and asked his

aide (in Russian), "Who is Kilroy?"

To help prove his authenticity in 1946

, James Kilroy brought along officials

from the shipyard and some of the

riveters. He won the trolley car,

which he gave to his nine children

as a Christmas gift and set it up as

a playhouse in the Kilroy yard in

Halifax , Massachusetts .

And The Tradition Continues...

[GerardoG]

Wow! Thank you for sharing!

[GradyPhilpott]

[cop414]

Great info John, I knew some of the story but not all these details, thanks!

[SemperFi]

Very interesting John and a great story. Thanks for posting!

[wantonebad]

Nice story!!

[joli160]

Never knew that, thanks

[Floorguy]

Always known of Kilroy, but never the story. Thanks John!!

[Lion]

I had heard about Kilroy and knew of some of the details thru my Dad who was in WWII. John, Thanx for bringing this story to the forefront!!!

[subtona]

Very cool story. Thanks


http://www.kilroywashere.org/001-Pag...oyLegends.html

[locutus49]

Thanks.

[Knappo 1307]

[asleep]

I'm younger than that target age quoted, but I used to draw Kilroys all over the place when I was a kid. I thought it was cool.



Thanks for bringing that up, I had totally forgotten about that part of me.

[ltmgeller]

Thanks for posting. I always wondered about Kilroy pre-Internet. Now I know the story.

[southtexas]

Very cool story, thanks for sharing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Armyguy03]

Excellent story. I've been volunteering at the WWII memorial in DC for over a year, Kilroy is actually carved in two locations at the memorial. It's always fun to engage school-aged children on fact "hunts," pointing them in the right direction.

[dddrees]

I always wondered where the Kilroy thing originated from.

Thanks.

[TheRolexKingofLV]

Great story!

[East Bay Rider]

Very interesting. Thanks for posting.

[hdrazor251]

Thanks. I've always been curious about how it got started.

[Old Expat Beast]

The big-nose cartoon guy likely originated in the UK according to The Straight Dope.

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/...ilroy-was-here

"The cartoon part of the graffito has a different origin. According to Dave Wilton, it is originally British, named Mr Chad, and apparently predates Kilroy by a few years. It commonly appeared with the phrase "Wot, no ____?" underneath, with the blank filled in by whatever was in short supply in Britain at the time--cigarettes, Spam, etc. The Oxford English Dictionary lists Chad's origin as "obscure" but it may have been created by British cartoonist George Edward Chatterton."

[Scot_3]

All very cool , I love this kinda of history thanks

[wisguy]

Mr.Roboto!

[Rogdogg]

That's very cool and interesting. I knew the picture but this was the first time I had heard about Kilroy.
Thanks for sharing. That was a lot of fun.

[Rock]

Thanks for the interesting explanation.
As a 'student of Americana' in the '60s via Mad Magazine, I probably first saw the slogan & graphic in it's distinguished pages, and always wondered where it originated.

[AzPaul]

Originally Posted by joli160

Never knew that, thanks

[BNA/LION]

Interesting read, Thanks!

[kilyung]

Way to go Kilroy! - Kilyung

[Superlativo]

Great story!