Kilrolt washere is an American popularculture expression, often seenin graffiti.Its originsare open to speculation.buf recognitionof it andthe distinctivedoodle of "Kilroy" peeking over a wall is known almosteverywhere among U.S. residents who lived during World War II and throughthe Korean War.

Engravingof Kilroyon theWWII Origins Memorialin WashingtonDC.

The phraseappears to have originatedthrough servicemen,who would draw the doodle and the text "Kilroy Was Here" on the walls or elsewherethey were stationed, encamped,or visited.Brewer's Dictionary of Phraseand Fable notesthat it was particularlyassociated with the Air Transport Command,at leastwhen observedin the .

One of the first sightingswas at a GraingerBranch in Baltimore where it was rumoredto have beendrawn by Kilroy himself. One theory identifiesJames J. Kilroy (1902-1962) , ?D A depictionof Kilroy on a pieceof Americanshipyard inspector, as the man behindthe signature. theBerlin Wall in theNewseum in During World War II he workedat the ForeRiver Shipyardin Washington,D.C., USA Quincy,Massachusetts, where he claimedto haveused the phraseto mark rivets he had checked.The builders,whose rivets J. J. Kilroy was counting,were paid dependingon the numberof rivets they put in. A riveter would make a chalk mark at the end of his or her shift to show wherethey had left off and the next riveter had started.Unscrupulous riveters discovered that, if they startedwork beforethe inspectorarrived, they could receiveextra pay by erasingthe previousworker's chalk mark and chalkinga mark farther back on the sameseam, giving themselvescredit for someof the previous "Kilroy riveter'swork. J.J.Kilroy stoppedthis practiceby writing was here"atthe siteof eachchalk mark. At the time, ships were being sentout beforethey had beenpainted, so when sealedareas were openedfor maintenance,soldiers found an unexplainedname scrawled. Thousands of servicemenmay havepotentially seen his sloganon the outgoingships and Kilroy's omnipresenceand inscrutability sparkedthe legend.Afterwards, servicemen could have begun placing the sloganon differentplaces and especiallyin new capturedareas or landings.At somelater point, the graffito (Chad)and slogan(Kilroy was here)must have merged.

TheNew YorkTimes indicated this asthe origin in 1946,based on the resultsof a contestconducted by the AmericanTransit Association to establishthe origin of the phenomenon.The articlenoted that Kilroy had markedthe ships themselvesas they were being built-so, at a later date,the phrasewould be foundchalked in placesthat no graffiti-artistcould have reached (inside sealed hull spaces,for example),which then fed the mythicalsignificance of the phrase-after all, if Kilroy couldleave his mark there,who knew where elsehe could go? Brev,er'sDictionary of Phraseand Fable notesthis as "the a possibleorigin, but suggeststhat phrasegrew by accident." "The Author CharlesPanati says: mischievousface and the phrasebecame a nationaljoke." He goeson "The to say: outrageousnessof the graffiti was not so much what it said,but where it turnedup."

Kilroy wasthe mostpopular of his type in World War II, aswell as today.Herbie (Canadian), Overby (Los Angeles,late 1960s),Chad (British, World War II), andMr. Foo (Australian, andII) 'major' ne\rerreached the popularityKilroy did. The Kilroy graffiti fad endedin the 1950s,but today 'Kilroy peopleall overthe world still scribble washere' in schools,trains, and othcrsimilar public areas.In the 1947frlm NightmareAlley, the expressionis seenscribbled on the wall in backof Tyrone Porverdurine a memorablescene.