Kilroy Is Here!

By John Dalton

The newlydedicated, May 2004 National World II Memorial displays a pesky graffito icon normally scorned by architects, designers and builders the world over. However, Washington, D.C.’s newest monument actually has given a special place to that wor ld- renowned character, Kilroy. In fact, there is one etching of him at each of the two entrances to the memorial which stands between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial.

This little graffito icon spread across the globe faster than Spitfires and Mustangs during WWII. He was at once jovial and cynical amid war’s death and destruction. A million 20-year-old GIs saying “Hello” anonymously. The Greatest Generation had a sense of humor.

Although generally attributed to an American shipyard worker in Massachusetts named James J Kilroy in 1940, both Britain and Australia had almost twin-looking icons of their own that resembled Kilroy. Being created by British cartoonist George “Char” Chatterton in 1938, the British character was dubbed “Chad”. Chad was usually accompanied by a quote complaining about military food and/or supplies. The Australian icon was named “Foo”. But Kilroy said it all with his three-word announcement, “Kilroy Was Here.”

Millions of Allied servicemen carved, painted and chiseled their own minds-eye likeness of the humorous and intrusive creature. Somehow, the three figures all looked very similar, although it did not require the talent of a Rembrandt or Van Gogh to mark his passing. But it was Kilroy who appeared the most often and at the farthest reaches of the planet.

One website says it is rumored that he has been found on The Arc de Triomphe in Paris, Mt. Everest, The Statue of Liberty, the Great Wall of China and the surface of the Moon.

So pervasive was the little guy that German intelligence found him peering at them from captured American vehicles, causing Hitler to conclude Kilroy was some high-level American spy. An unconfirmed report said that in a VIP latrine during the Potsdam Conference with Churchill and Roosevelt, that Joseph Stalin was heard to say, “Who is this Kilroy?

Perhaps the memorial’s designers wanted to design-in his image so as to avoid the future costs of having to erase an image created by a malicious hand. Or maybe, despite the negative aspects, the little bald intruder really belongs with the American serviceman and woman. After all, he did appear in every war time strategic theater and on every continent.

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Writer’s Note: The Memorial’s ellipticalshaped structure surrounds a pool and fountain with 56 pillars 17 feet in height representing each of the United States and its territories. The Freedom Wall on the west side of the Memorial contains 4,048 gold stars, each star representing 100 Americans who died in WWII. There are bass reliefs with scenes typical of the Atlantic and Pacific theaters of the war. After being financed and built with a combination of private, corporate and federal funds, the memorial was turned over to the National Park Service. 

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John Dalton lives in Powder Springs, GA.