topic Re: Remember Kilroy? in Community Spirit

Remember Kilroy?

icyfroth — Wed, 13 Nov 2013 09:03:40 GMT

I wonder what Kilroy, another long-standing poster who hasn't been seen for ages, is doing these days?

Here's the story of the first Kilroy:

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 prize of 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 inQuincy . 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 Europeand 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 Triumph, and even scrawled in the dust on the moon.

As the war went on, the legend grew. Underwater demolition teams routinely 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 Potsdamconference. 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 ...

Re: Remember Kilroy?

kopenhagen5 — Wed, 13 Nov 2013 09:31:00 GMT

Very interesting, I always saw that face associated with Foo was here.

Re: Remember Kilroy?

freshwater-2 — Wed, 13 Nov 2013 10:25:15 GMT

What a wonderful original post by Kilroy.

Thank you for posting Icy.

Well, Kilroy was here on CS, but haven't heard from him for ages.

I liked his posts.

Re: Remember Kilroy?

gem-boy-g — Wed, 13 Nov 2013 11:57:48 GMT

thank you icy that was a really interesting post, I've often wondered where it came from.

Re: Remember Kilroy?

freshwater-2 — Wed, 13 Nov 2013 13:30:36 GMT

Icy, I keep a file of my favourite quotes and stories.

I am adding this one.

Re: Remember Kilroy?

debra9275 — Wed, 13 Nov 2013 21:29:01 GMT

interesting story Icy, thanks for posting it. I've always known it as "Foo was here" too, same as kopes

I wondered where it came from

Re: Remember Kilroy?

cherry*135 — Wed, 13 Nov 2013 22:00:19 GMT

That version (an email version?) of Kilroy is here isn't 100% accurate/confirmed. The actual drawing is thought to be Mr Chad attributed to UK cartoonist George Edward Chatterton.

The trolley car was said to be used as extra accommodation for 6 of Kilroys 9 children.

Australia equivalent Mr Foo.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilroy_was_here

http://www.snopes.com/language/phrases/kilroy.asp

Re: Remember Kilroy?

icyfroth — Wed, 13 Nov 2013 22:21:37 GMT

@am*3 wrote:
That version (an email version?) of Kilroy is here isn't 100% accurate/confirmed. The actual drawing is thought to be Mr Chad attributed to UK cartoonist George Edward Chatterton.

"thought to be" isn't exactly 100% accurate confirmed either, is it Am?

Re: Remember Kilroy?

cherry*135 — Wed, 13 Nov 2013 23:01:59 GMT

Did you read the links? The Mr Chad drawing was around in the UK before Mr Kilroy started leaving his signature. There are also other discrepancies in that story..compared with news articles around that time.

Re: Remember Kilroy?

icyfroth — Wed, 13 Nov 2013 23:44:34 GMT

yes I read the links.

The wiki one is full of may be's, thought to be's and attributed to's.

the snopes one simple re-iterates what it says in my OP.

Re: Remember Kilroy?

cherry*135 — Thu, 14 Nov 2013 00:31:57 GMT

No the snopes one doesn't reiterate all the points in your op.

It starts with an exact copy of what you have in the opening post (an email version), and below that it covers the points were there are discrepancies with the original account.

No matter what way you look at it, Mr Kilroy did not add that drawing under his signature. The drawing originated in the UK before he started signing the ships.

Both links state Mr Kilroy used the prize added onto his house for accommodation for 6 of his 9 kids, not used as some novelty in the garden.

Re: Remember Kilroy?

the_great_she_elephant — Thu, 14 Nov 2013 02:18:52 GMT

@icyfroth wrote:
yes I read the links.

The wiki one is full of may be's, thought to be's and attributed to's.

the snopes one simple re-iterates what it says in my OP.

It also says " Status = undetermined." but in the end, does it really matter? Kilroy almost certainly was a real person, and whether or no he 'stole' Mr Chad's drawing, he was the one who ultimately made it famous.

Re: Remember Kilroy?

cherry*135 — Thu, 14 Nov 2013 08:33:47 GMT

Actually it was the servicemen who matched the saying with the drawing, and made it famous by leaving it in all sorts of places all around the world.

You would be happy, she-ele, if someone took a phrase/sentence from one of your books and claimed it as their own? (Not that Mr Kilroy did that, the story has just grown to incorporate the drawing as his).