During the Second World War, a particular piece of graffiti was being drawn all over Africa, Europe and the Pacific as American servicemen introduced a popular symbol to the world.
The character, a baldheaded, big-noses man peering over a fence, went by different names but was most commonly referred to as Kilroy.
Many G.I.s who advanced into Normandy after the (in)famous D-Day landings of June 1944, came across the drawing accompanied by the words ‘Kilroy was here’: a telltale sign that other Allied forces had been in the area already. Similarly, one Marine who landed on the black-sanded beaches of Iwo Jima was surprised to see the familiar face and text on a piece of cardboard, left there by one of the members of an Underwater Demolition Team who had inspected the beaches before the landing. Moreover, the doodle was sometimes painted on shells that were fired into enemy territory.
Although the character and words quickly became omnipresent during the war, its origin is unknown. The character itself was known as ‘Mr Chad’ in the UK and was probably derived from a British cartoon. Here, the character was often accompanied by the text “Wot? No tea?” (or sugar, or whatever goods were in short supply). However, the catchphrase was likely introduced by Australian forces, who coined the term ‘Foo was here’ during the First World War. ‘Kilroy’ was the American equivalent, and as Allied forces merged, so did the graffiti and the catchphrase. Although the character had different names in different Theatres of Operation, ‘Kilroy’ would ultimately become inseparable from the doodle.
In 1946, a radio contest was held by the American Transit Association, in an effort to establish the origin of Kilroy. One of the contenders, a James J. Kilroy from Massachusetts won the contest. He worked at a shipyard during the war and was tasked with inspecting other people’s work on warships. Kilroy recounted how he started writing ‘Kilroy was here’ as proof he had already inspected the area after his superiors kept walking rounds with him to check his work. Kilroy was awarded a trolley car for winning the radio contest.
Another origin story, posted in Life magazine, has it that the character itself originated with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, and was an alteration of a schematic representation of an electrical system.
Whatever its origin, Kilroy was brought back from the war and became enormously popular in the USA in the ’50s, appearing in pop culture, television shows (such as Bugs Bunny), on walls and lockers and pretty much every street corner. Rumors have it the big-nosed man can be found on the top of the Mount Everest and even on the moon.
Kilroy started as a morale booster for servicemen in WWII but is still being drawn by US personnel in today’s wars. Moreover, the doodle still appears in nowadays pop cultures, examples including Adventure Time, Halo 3, Doctor Who and Seinfeld.
A more extensive list of origin legends can be found on tinyurl.com/3x9yx
Sources:
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