WASHINGTON — The Greatest Generation experienced so many things in a short period of time as they grew up: the introduction of radio and television, a crippling Depression and World War II. Did that generation also create a popular meme?
Back at the height of World War II, the United States had to scramble to create military vehicles, tanks and warships, putting many people on the Homefront back into factories across the nation. A shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts, was no different except for one detail.
James J. Kilroy who lived in Quincy, was an inspector at the shipyard, checking all the rivets and welds that were involved to hold ships together. He’d count the rivets off using a piece of chalk, leaving a checkmark to the areas that were approved. However, later shifts at the shipyard would wipe away the chalk and recount them, earning more money for themselves.
To counteract his chalk marks getting erased, he began adding “Kilroy Was Here” in over-sized letters with a yellow crayon, later adding a drawing of a big-nosed cartoon figure peering over a wall. Kilroy would leave it in hard-to- reach places, making it hard to erase.
Ships for the war had to be made so quickly, they would often be sent out without being fully painted.
Sailors only began to find these markings in various locations of a ship when it needed maintenance but didn’t know the meaning behind it.
It caught on with all branches of the armed forces, boosting morale, as soldiers wanted to see how many places, they could graffiti it. When G.I.’s arrived at a new location to find it graffitied onto a wall, they knew American forces were previously there. It was tagged in so many places, supposedly Hitler himself wondered if Kilroy was a master spy.
The World War II Memorial opened in Washington D.C. in 2004, honoring all the men and women that served and sacrificed their lives. 56 granite pillars represent all U.S. states and territories, surrounding the Rainbow Pool. Hidden discretely behind two pillars (and a hard to reach area), “Kilroy was here” along with the cartoon, have been chiseled into the granite.
The lore of this little cartoon morale booster will forever be linked with the men and women that saved the world from unknown evils.