Soldiers of present day and of the past, go through and experience events and encounters that are unimaginable to the normal civilian. They are thousands of miles away from their family, from their home, from their everyday life where fear for their life didn't exist. If you were in their shoes, something from your home country would be comforting, almost inspiring. That's what the story 'Kilroy Was Here' is all about. Although the true stroy behind that phrase is not truely determined, most historians have agreed on one of the conspiracy's.
The phrase 'Kilroy Was Here' came about during WW11 from the men who worked on the ships sent out to our allied countries. The phrase normally came along with an illustration of a bald cartoon with a long nose peering over a line that represents a wall of some sort. The most common conspiracy behind this states that this cartoon originated in a shipyard in Quincy, Massachussettes by a man with name of James J. Kilroy.
During the era of WW2 when men worked in the shipyards, it was difficult for the employers to keep track of every single mans work hours. So, in conclusion, they came up with a solution that involved rivets. Rivets are small almost needle-like objects that they would stick in the side of the boat that they were working on along with they employees name. They stuck one in for every hour they worked. Although this way had its benefits, there were also cons. The big one being that men would take other mens rivets and stick them with there own chart. James Kilroy was fed up with this happening to him, so he began to carve the 'Kilroy Was Here' cartoon along with his rivets. Most of the time, the ships had to be sent off without being painted over so this cartoon would begin to trend and appear all over allied and American ships and weapons.
This humerous cartoon began to show up at American battles before the troops even arrived and sparked some inspiration and motivation within them. To the Axis powers, on the other hand, saw this symbol as a threat and wanted to destory this "man" named Kilroy. Hitler along with Japan were on a mad search to find and kill Kilroy, but obviously they never found him because he wasn't a real person.
I just think this phrase and cartoon is so cool becuase it brought comfort and inspiration to our troops and it kind of brought our country together. I think it's crazy how a small little symbol like that, can have the impact that it did.
Sources:
http://www.livescience.com/7577-kilroy-changed-world.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilroy_was_here
Comments
Is it weird how things catch on. You could say that this wen "viral" in a time before the internet!
Well done Taylor!