Can anyone explain why the little "Kilroy" character became so popular, and how it got started?

Question

I'll bet not many in this generation know much about him, but your WWII vets can remember the guy. Wish it was possible to sketch him here. Everyone would then know who I was talking about. "KILROY WAS HERE".

Answer 1

There was one person who led or participated in every combat, training or occupation operation during WWII and the Korean War. This person could always be depended on. GI's began to consider him the "super GI." He was one who always got there first or who was always there when they left. I am, of course, referring to Kilroy Was Here. Somehow, this simple graffiti captured the imagination of GI's everywhere they went. The scribbled cartoon face and words showed up everywhere - worldwide. Stories (some even true) abound.


Legend #1: This Legend of how "Kilroy was here" starts is with James J. Kilroy, a shipyard inspector during WWII. He chalked the words on bulkheads to show that he had been there and inspected the riveting in the newly constructed ship. To the troops in those ships, however, it was a complete mystery — all they knew for sure was that he had "been there first." As a joke, they began placing the graffiti wherever they (the US forces) landed or went, claiming it was already there when they arrived.

Kilroy became the US super-GI who always got there first — wherever GI's went. It became a challenge to place the logo in the most unlikely places. It was said to be atop Mt. Everest, the Statue of Liberty, the underside of the Arch de Triumphe, and scrawled in the dust on the moon. An outhouse was built for the exclusive use of Truman, Stalin, and Churchill who were there for the Potsdam conference. The first person to use it was Stalin. He emerged and asked his aide (in Russian), "Who is Kilroy?"

WWII UDT (Under Water Demolition - later Navy Seals) divers swam ashore on Japanese held islands in the Pacific to prepare the beaches for the coming landings by US troops. They were sure to be the first GIs there! On more than one occasion, they reported seeing "Kilroy was here" scrawled on make shift signs or as graffiti on enemy pillboxes. They, in turn, often left similar signs for the next incoming GIs.

The tradition continued in every US military theater of operations throughout and following WWII.

In 1946 the Transit Company of America held a contest offering a prize of a real trolley car to the person who could prove himself to be the "real" Kilroy. Almost forty men stepped forward to make that claim, but James Kilroy brought along officials from the shipyard and some of the riveters to help prove his authenticity. James Kilroy won the prize of the trolley car which he gave it to his nine children as a Christmas gift and set it up in their front yard for a playhouse.




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Legend #2 Thanks to Eric Willeke, Savannah, GA. I always thought that Kilroy grew up in Boston and loved to sneak away from school to see the Red Sox games looking over the wall in left field at Fenway Park. When the war broke out, he became an artillery observer and when his unit landed at Normandy, the locals felt that, with his nose, he looked like Charles De Gaulle. General Eisenhower decided to dress him as the French General posing in a fake headquarters to convince German spies that he was the French General marshaling troops for the real invasion. The Germans held their reserves waiting for the invasion led by De Gaulle which enabled the famous breakthrough at St Lo. After meeting De Gaulle nose to nose, he was returned to his unit where his buddies scrawled "Kilroy was here" wherever they went. Kilroy left the Army after the war to again see his beloved Red Sox at his favorite spot on the green monster.

If this story is not true, it should be.



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Legend #3: Thanks to John F. Griffin Quincy MA. This is how we know the story in Massachusetts. It adds to your selections already posted . . . Kilroy was an inspector in a factory in Braintree, Massachusetts. (just south of Boston). When the war kicked off, he employed women to run the factory lines. The women were paid by the amount of items they produced that day. At the end of the day Kilroy would walk along the factory line and chalk off at each station how much the woman had completed that day. Well, the women got smart about the situation and began erasing his chalk lines and moving them back a few places so when they started the next day they already had a few completed and obviously earned more money. Well, as Kilroy then himself got smart about this, he began using other markings besides a line. The "outsmarting match" continued between the women and Kilroy until he began to draw images and signing his name. It is the most popular image of Kilroy with his signature that hardest to duplicate exactly and thus that is the marking that endured.

At least that is somewhat how we tell it from the home front.

Answer 2

There are many legends about Kilroy due to the "Kilroy was Here" graffiti that was everywhere the American Troops went during WWII. He was one of the G.I.'s it seemed as his simple picture and words appeared everywhere. As he grew in popularity and showed up in more places the stories of his origin varied. Some say he was from Ireland, others claim he was from near Boston.

He eventually became a cartoon character and can be seen in movies, on TV shows, and he even has an exhibit dedicated to him in Youngstown, Ohio at the Historical Center.

Answer 3

During WWII the G.I.'s would draw the character on places as they were crossing the countries, and they would write" Kilroy was here" under it.

Answer 4

Kilroy was sort of an icon of WWII. Soldiers often painted him on buildings in the battle ridden areas.

Answer 5

I'm not a ww2 vet but from what I was told there actually was a footsoldier named kilroy who actually drew that little guuy peeking over something everywhere he went...I guess he would draw it on tanks and jeeps and other things...
I don't know if this helped but thats what I was told about it.

Answer 6

Timothy's Legend #1 is the one I found when I researched it months ago.

Answer 7

yes i remember and yes it was some soldier in ww2 that used to draw them everywhere he went.