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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| Kilroy was here |
| 2005-05-02 |
| Kilroy is still here. James L. Kilroy, that is. The ship inspector credited with creating one of America's most potent military mottos remains dear to the nation's heart. On the job around 1942, he wrote just three words in presumed anonymity on the hull of a Liberty ship: "Kilroy was here." Over time, the phrase came to mean there was no place so remote that the U.S. military could not reach it. There's a campaign to put his catch phrase on a postage stamp. Others hope to persuade the U.S. Navy to christen a "USS Kilroy." There are Kilroy hats, bumper stickers and shirts. There's a photo competition, an essay contest, a fan club and a swell anniversary celebration planned for mid-May. To the delight of those who discover it, the Kilroy message has been engraved upon the new World War II Memorial on the Mall. "A 'Kilroy was here' meant a lot to those in World War II and the Korean War. But let me tell you, it lives on through today's military," said Michael Condon of the United States Naval Shipbuilding Museum in Massachusetts -- once the Quincy Four River Shipyard and home base of the original Mr. Kilroy, who died in 1962. "The phrase has popped up in the caves of Afghanistan, and in Iraq. It's still a symbol of just how great the American spirit can be. It still means something to people," Mr. Condon said. Mr. Kilroy was hired to inspect rivet holes in the bellies of troop ships before their launch. Other inspectors used simple chalk marks, but Mr. Kilroy hastily scrawled "Kilroy was here" in yellow crayon. The idea that some mysterious wag "had been there first" resonated with troops who sailed aboard the ships. They soon began writing the same thing wherever they landed, commonly embellished with a bug-eyed cartoon. Once Americans occupied German territory toward the war's end, the ubiquitous phrase was said to have convinced Adolf Hitler himself that Kilroy was an American "super soldier," and the German dictator ordered undercover agents to capture him. |
| Posted by:Mrs. Davis |
| #4 When I was in grade school in the 1960s, we chalked ''Kilroy was here'' on the playground equipment. This Sunday is the 60th anniversary of VE Day. For those who are interested in WWII history, may I recommend ''Tin Can Man,'' by Emory Jernigan. Rate this one PG-16; it's the gob's eye view of destroyer service, including brief but very personal descriptions of shore leave. Read Tin Can Man, and then go dig up a fat book in the Library, ''The United States Navy in WWII,'' compiled in the 60s from various sources. You can cross reference the Big Picture with the gob's point of view of the same action. Also go dig up Ernie Pyle in the Library, and glom your own copy if you run across it at the used book store. |
| Posted by: mom 2005-05-02 21:36 |
| #3 Good Lord, Mrs. D! I don't think we had rap back in the 1960's when I was in high school. Or maybe I heard that little ditty in grade school - not sure. It's not original with me, and it's old as the hills, but it still cracks me up. ;-p |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2005-05-02 4:02:03 PM |
| #2 I didn't know you did rap, Barbara! |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2005-05-02 2:37:40 PM |
| #1 "Kilroy was here." Clap your hands, Jump for joy. I was here Before Kilroy. :-D |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2005-05-02 2:26:28 PM |