Kilroy was here is an American popular culture expression, often seen in graffiti. Its origins are indistinct, but recognition of it and the distinct doodle of "Kilroy" peeking over a wall is almost ubiquitous in the US.

The same doodle also appears in other cultures, but the character peeping over the wall is not named Kilroy but Foo. Australian children write "Foo was here" under the illustration, a habit possibly inherited from the United Kingdom, where such graffiti are known as "chads".

Explanations of origin

One explanation places its origins in World War II United States soldiers, who would draw the doodle where they were stationed, encamped, etc.

James J. Kilroy was supposedly the man behind the signature. An inspector, he lived in Boston, Massachusetts and served in the Legislature. During World War II he worked in a shipyard in Quincy where the famous saying was born. Millions of service men saw the slogan on the outgoing ships and all they knew was that "Kilroy" had been there first. Service men began placing the graffiti wherever the US Forces landed, claiming it was already there when they arrived. Kilroy then became the "Super-GI" who had always already been wherever the GIs went.

Isaac Asimov in 1955 published a fictional short story entitled The Message which is the story of a thirtieth Century historian named George Kilroy who traveled back in time to witness historic events. It was while witnessing the first allied beach assault landings of World War II in Africa that Kilroy first left his mark scratched into a shack on the beach. This short story may be found in Asimov's short story collections Earth Is Room Enough or The Complete Stories Volume 1.

The novel V. by Thomas Pynchon claims that Kilroy was originally part of a schematic for a band-pass filter.

External links

• The Legends of "Kilroy Was Here" http://www.kilroywashere.org/001-Pages/01-0KilroyLegends.html
• The Straight Dope: "What's the origin of 'Kilroy was here'?" http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mkilroy.html

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Kilroy Was Here is also the title of a 1983 rock opera/concept album by the band Styx, including the songs "Mr. Roboto" and "Don't Let It End ".