Kilroy was here is a meme [ 1 ] that became popular during World War II , typically seen in graffiti. Its origin is debated, but the phrase and the distinctive accompanying doodle became associated with GIs in the s: a bald-headed man sometimes depicted as having a few hairs with a prominent nose peeking over a wall with his fingers clutching the wall.
The character of Chad may have been derived from a British cartoonist in , possibly pre-dating "Kilroy was here". According to Dave Wilton, "Some time during the war, Chad and Kilroy met, and in the spirit of Allied unity merged, with the British drawing appearing over the American phrase. According to Charles Panati , "The outrageousness of the graffiti was not so much what it said, but where it turned up.
The phrase may have originated through United States servicemen who would draw the picture and the text "Kilroy was here" on the walls and other places where they were stationed, encamped, or visited. An ad in Life magazine noted that WWII-era servicemen were fond of claiming that "whatever beach-head they stormed, they always found notices chalked up ahead of them, that 'Kilroy was here ' ". Many sources claim origin as early as According to one story, German intelligence found the phrase on captured American equipment.
This led Adolf Hitler to believe that Kilroy could be the name or codename of a high-level Allied spy. The Oxford English Dictionary says simply that Kilroy was "the name of a mythical person". One theory identifies James J. Kilroy — , an American shipyard inspector, as the man behind the signature. He worked at the Fore River Shipyard in Quincy during the war checking the work of riveters paid by how many rivets they installed. To prevent this, Kilroy marked work he had inspected and approved with the phrase "Kilroy was here" in more durable crayon.
More than 40 candidates claimed to have originated the phrase and cartoon in response to a contest conducted by the American Transit Association to establish the origin of the phenomenon. While Kilroy's marks might normally have been painted over, interior painting was a low priority in the rush to launch ships, so Kilroy's marks were seen by thousands of servicemen who sailed aboard troopships built at Quincy.
