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The FReeper Foxhole Remembers "Kilroy" - August 22nd, 2004
see educational sources

Posted on 08/21/2004 11:18:48 PM PDT by snippy_about_it



Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
.

FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.



...................................................................................... ...........................................

U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues

Where Duty, Honor and Country
are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.

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The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans.

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We hope the Foxhole in some small way helps us to remember and honor those who came before us.

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Kilroy Was Here




Kilroy Was Everywhere


During the World War II, the phrase 'Kilroy was here' began to appear wherever US troops were. It was often accompanied with the image of a face with a long nose and two big round eyes with small dot eyeballs peeking over a wall or a line representing a wall. Everything else, except sometimes his fingers gripping the top of the wall, was hidden behind the wall itself.

Kilroy is a familiar image, whose origin is something of a mystery. In 1946, the American Transit Association had a radio programme called Speak to America. This programme sponsored a nationwide contest in an attempt to solve the mystery behind the origins of the mystical Kilroy. Speak to America found James J Kilroy of Massachusetts as a result of their search. That James J Kilroy was the originator of 'Kilroy was here' is currently the most commonly believed explanation for the phenomenon.



James J Kilroy was a ship inspector at the Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts, USA. It was his responsibility to check on how many holes a riveter had filled in a shift on any given day. In order to prevent double counting by dishonest riveters and to prove to his supervisors that he'd been doing his work, he began marking 'Kilroy was here' inside the hulls of the ships being built. He used yellow crayon so it would be easily visible; this way the off-shift inspectors wouldn't count the rivets more than once and pay the riveter for work he hadn't done.

Once the ship became operative, carrying military troops that were headed overseas and bound for the war, the phrase was a complete mystery. Why it was there and being found in such out of the way places made it all the more mysterious. All they could be certain of was that Kilroy, whoever he was, had 'been there first'. As a joke, troops began placing the graffiti wherever the US forces landed and claimed it had already been there when they'd arrived.

Whoever originated it, Kilroy quickly became the United States super GI who had always already been wherever men were sent by the military. The game quickly became a challenge to put the picture and slogan in the most unlikely places imaginable first.


From the Atterbury-Bakalar Air Museum, Columbus, Indiana. "The ubiquitous Kilroy, his long pathetic nose hanging over the wall with the two peering eyes above it, always the spectator, never inside. 'Kilroy was here.' It was marked on the standing walls of ruined buildings, on latrine walls and other places from Seattle to Miami and from Italy to Australia. No one ever knew who started it. Everybody understood it. If something bad had happened, Kilroy was responsible. If something good had happened, Kilroy had been outside looking in." - James Jones


According to author Charles Panati, it's supposed to be atop Mount Everest, on the torch of the Statue of Liberty, on the underside of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, on the Marco Polo Bridge in China, on huts in Polynesia, on a girder on the George Washington Bridge in New York and scrawled in the dust on the moon. Panati also wrote that an outhouse was built, during the Potsdam Conference in July of 1945, for use exclusively by Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill. The first of the three to utilize the facility was Stalin. Upon emerging he inquired of his nearby aide, 'Who is Kilroy?' This was supposedly overheard by a translator and is where the story comes from.

Kilroy and Hitler - The Rumour

Near the end of World War II, Adolf Hitler was absolutely and completely paranoid regarding one insurgent in particular. This individual seemed able to get into everything and anything that was thought to be secure in Nazi, Germany. He (Hitler) ordered his best men to begin actively searching for this super-spy and all troops were commanded to shoot and kill this menace.

The 'spy' Hitler was looking for was none other than Kilroy! GIs in occupied territory and spies in the German Army were vandalizing Nazi bases and equipment with the Kilroy logo and its well-known slogan. It wasn't intended as anything more than graffiti and a prank, but by the final year of Hitler's reign, he was convinced Kilroy could penetrate into any secure area and feared for his own safety thinking Kilroy was certain to kill him.

Origins

Oddly enough, as widespread as the Kilroy phenomenon was there is no concrete evidence to verify either when or where it began, nor who began it in each country (USA, England and Canada). In England, the Kilroy logo was known as Chad and his slogan consisted of 'Wot no...?' The blank was usually filled in with whatever there was a shortage of or whatever was being rationed at the time. The Oxford English Dictionary states that Chad's origin is obscure, but that British Cartoonist George Edward Chatterton may have created it. Though the James J Kilroy story seems to be the most likely point of origin for the 'Kilroy was here' legend, there is possible evidence of occurrences of the Kilroy logo much earlier than World War II.



Though Chad was popular in England, just as Kilroy was in the US military, still nobody (other than James J Kilroy) has stepped forward to claim him as their own invention, even though there were 26 men named Kilroy in the military during WW2. There was also a Canadian version known as Clem and in the late 1960s there was a version in Los Angeles, California that went by the name of Overby. Perhaps the theory of Kilroy being an unknown super soldier wasn't so far off after all...




FReeper Foxhole Armed Services Links




TOPICS: VetsCoR
KEYWORDS: freeperfoxhole; history; kilroywashere; samsdayoff; veterans; wwii
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To: The Mayor

Good morning Mayor.

We are getting lots of needed rainfall here in Oregon and the temps are cooling to the 70's. It just pours down but without the thunder and lightning I'm used to back east. Pretty neat.


41 posted on 08/22/2004 6:57:25 AM PDT by snippy_about_it (Fall in --> The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul.)
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To: bentfeather

Good morning feather.


42 posted on 08/22/2004 6:58:05 AM PDT by snippy_about_it (Fall in --> The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul.)
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To: SAMWolf
Up early this morning.

Yep, wanted to enjoy the cool temps!

43 posted on 08/22/2004 7:03:17 AM PDT by snippy_about_it (Fall in --> The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul.)
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To: snippy_about_it

Today's classic warship, USS Dayton (CL-105)

Cleveland class light cruiser
Displacement: 10,000 t.
Length: 610’1”
Beam: 66’6”
Draft: 20’
Speed: 33 k.
Complement: 992
Armament: 12 6”; 12 5”

USS DAYTON (CL-105) was launched 19 March 1944 by New York Shipbuilding Corp., Camden, N.J.; sponsored by Mrs. H. Rueger, and commissioned 7 January 1945, Captain P. W. Steinhagen in command.

DAYTON arrived at Pearl Harbor 15 May for training, and reached San Pedro Bay, Leyte, 16 June to join the 3d Fleet. On 1 July, she sortied with the Fleet for the final strikes along the Japanese coast, screening the fast carrier task groups and conducting shore bombardments. She entered Tokyo Bay 10 September and, except for a brief period of upkeep at Eniwetok, remained on occupation duty until 7 November when she got underway for San Pedro, Calif., arriving 19 November.

DAYTON sailed from San Pedro 24 January 1946 and arrived at Pearl Harbor 6 days later en route to Japan. Her orders were changed and on 7 February she sailed to join the Atlantic Fleet, conducting training at Guantanamo Bay on her way to Norfolk, her assigned home port.

On 3 February 1947, DAYTON sailed from Norfolk for a tour in the Mediterranean, exercising off Malta, and paying calls, including a diplomatic visit to Istanbul, Turkey, then sailed again to the Mediterranean, acting as flagship for Commander, Naval Forces, Mediterranean, for part of this deployment from which she returned to Boston 30 November.

Following local operations from Newport and another cruise to the Mediterranean between 9 February and 26 June 1948, DAYTON was placed out of commission in reserve at Boston 1 March 1949. USS Dayton was part of the Reserve Fleet there and at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for the next dozen years. She was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 September 1961 and sold for scrapping on 6 April 1962.

DAYTON received one battle star for World War II service.

44 posted on 08/22/2004 7:07:32 AM PDT by aomagrat (Where arms are not to be carried, it is well to carry arms.")
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To: aomagrat

Morning aomagrat.

The late WWII ships had such beautiful lines. Sighhhh


45 posted on 08/22/2004 7:27:39 AM PDT by SAMWolf (Married men live longer than single men, but married men are a lot more willing to go..)
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To: snippy_about_it
When I was doing power plant construction out West, I made a visit to the "blue room" (porta-pottie). On the wall there was scribbled:
"I was here and you were gone. Now you're here and I am gone."

Kilroy gone Zen...

46 posted on 08/22/2004 7:34:56 AM PDT by snopercod ("If you wait, all that happens is that you get older." -- Mario Andretti)
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To: snippy_about_it

On This Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on August 22:
1647 Denis Papin French physicist (Papiniaanse pot, steam machine)
1760 Leo XII [Annibale Sermattei], Italy, Pope (1823-29)
1822 George Stoneman US Union general-major/(Gov-Calif, 1883-87)
1827 Josef Strauss Austria, composer
1827 Joseph Anthony Mower Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1870
1834 Nathaniel Harrison Harris Brig General (Confederate Army)
1836 Archibald M Willard US, artist (Spirit of '76)
1854 Milan I, King of Serbia
1862 Claude Debussy St Germain-en-Laye, composer (La Mer, Clair de lune)
1891 Jacques Lipchitz Polish/French/US painter/cubist sculptor
1893 Dorothy Parker US, short story writer (1958 Marjorie Peabody Award)
1904 Deng Xiaoping Chinese leader (1976-1983)
1908 Henri Cartier-Bresson, photographer.(The decisive moment)
1917 John Lee Hooker Mississippi, blues musician (Boom Boom Boom)
1920 Dr Denton Cooley heart surgeon (1st artifical heart transplant)
1920 Ray Bradbury Ill, sci-fi author (Fahrenheit 451, Illustrated Man, The Martian Chronicles)
1926 Honor Blackman London, actress (Pussy Galore-Goldfinger)
1932 Gerald P Carr Denver Colorado, Col USMC/astronaut (Skylab 4)
1933 Sylvia Koscina actress (Jessica, Hercules)
1934 Norman Schwartzkopf NJ, US General (Liberated Kuwait from Iraq)
1935 Morton Dean Fall River Mass, TV newscaster (CBS, ABC)
1939 Carl Yastrzemski NY, Boston Red Sox great (1967 AL MVP, Hall of Fame)
1940 Valerie Harper Sufferin NY, (Mary Tyler Moore Show, Rhoda, Valerie)
1942 Kathy Lennon Santa Monica Calif, singer (Lennon Sisters)
1945 Ron Dante Staten Island NY, rocker (Archies-Sugar, Sugar)
1947 Cindy Williams Van Nuys Calif, actress (Shirley-Laverne & Shirley)
1949 Diana Nyad swimmer (1st to swim Bahamas to Fla-1979)
1956 - Paul Molitor, St Paul MN, infielder (Milwaukee Brewers, Toronto Blue Jays, Mn Twins, 1993 World Series MVP)1961 Roland Orzabal singer (Tears for Fears-Shout, Head over Heels)



Deaths which occurred on August 22:
408 Flavius Stilicho, West Roman field leader
0634 Abd Allah Abu Bekr, Arabic merchant/1st caliph of Islam, dies
1241 Gregory IX [Ugolino di Segni], Italian Pope, dies
1280 Nicholas III [Giovanni Gaetano Orsini], Italian Pope (1277-80), dies
1286 Erik V Klipping king of Denmark, murdered
1485 Richard III, king of England (1483-85), killed in battle at 32
1818 Warren Hastings 1st governor-general of India (1773-84), dies at 85
1862 Henry Bohlen German/US brig-general (Union), dies in battle at 51
1914 Raffenel French general (3rd Colonial Div, WW I), dies in battle
1914 Rondoney French general (3rd Colonial Div, WW I), dies in battle
1922 Michael Collins Sinn Fein leader, killed in ambush
1977 Sebastian Cabot actor (Mr French-Family Affair), dies at 59
1978 Jomo Kenyatta president of Kenya, dies at 83
1989 Black Panther co-founder Huey P. Newton was shot to death in Oakland, Calif.
1992 Vicki Weaver, murdered by an FBI sharpshooter, Lon Horiuchi.
1991 Colleen Dewhurst actress (Murphy Brown), dies of cancer at 67


Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1967 KERR JOHN C. MIAMI FL.
1967 MORGAN BURKE H. MANITOU SPRINGS CO.
1968 ACOSTA-ROSARIO HUMBERTO MAYAQUEZ PR.
1972 CROCKETT WILLIAM J. COTTAGE CROVE NM.
1972 TIGNER LEE M. WASHINGTON DC.

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.


On this day...
0565 St Columba reported seeing monster in Loch Ness
1138 English defeated Scots at Cowton Moor -- Banners of various saints were carried into battle which led to it being called Battle of the Standard
1350 John II, also known as John the Good, succeeds Philip VI as king of France.
1454 Jews are expelled from Brunn Moravia by order of King Ladislaus
1485 Richard III slain at Bosworth Field-last of Plantagenets
1614 Trades people under Vincent Fettmilch chase & plunder Jews out of ghetto in Frankfurt
1642 Civil war in England begins as Charles I declares war on Parliament at Nottingham.
1762 1st female (Ann Franklin) US newspaper editor, Newport RI, Mercury
1775 King George III proclaims colonies to be in open rebellion
1787 John Fitch's steamboat completes its tests, years before Fulton
1788 Sierra Leone, settled by British as a former haven for slaves
1791 Haitian Slave Revolution begins under voodoo priest Boukman
1791 Haitian Revolution begins
1846 US annexes New Mexico
1851 Gold fields discovered in Australia
1851 Yacht "America" wins 1st Royal Yacht Squadron Cup (America's Cup)
1862 Battle of Catlett's Station VA
1862 Santee Sioux indian attack Fort Ridgely Mn.
1864 Geneva Convention signed, by 12 nations
1901 First luxury automobile company in the US founded, Cadillac, in Detroit, Michigan; the company was named after 18th century explorer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac
1902 Pres Teddy Roosevelt became 1st US chief executive to ride in a car
1906 1st Victor Victrola manufactured
1910 Japan annexes Korea
1911 Mona Lisa stolen from Louvre
1927 Babe Ruth hits 40th of 60 homers
1932 BBS begins experimental regular TV broadcasts
1934 Red Sox pitcher Wes Ferrell hits 2 HRs to beat White Sox 3-2 in 12
1944 Last transport of French Jews to nazi-Germany
1944 Hitler orders Paris to be destroyed [or 23rd]
1945 Vietnam conflict begins as Ho Chi Minh leads a successful coup
1947 1st college team to beat an NFL team (All Stars-16, Bears-0)
1950 Althea Gibson becomes 1st black competetor in natl tennis competition
1951 Harlem Globetrotters play in Olympic Stadium, Berlin before 75,052
1956 Pres Eisenhower & VP Nixon renominated by Rep convention in SF
1959 Cin Red Frank Robinson hits 3 consecutive HRs
1960 Gil Hodges set NL righty HR record with #352
1961 Maris hits his 50th of 61 homers
1963 NASA civilian test pilot Joe Walker in X-15 reaches 67 miles (106 km)
1965 SF Giant pitcher Juan Marachal hits LA Dodger catcher John Roseboro on the head with his bat causing a 14 minute brawl
1968 1st papal visit to Latin America (Pope Paul VI arrives in Bogota)
1968 Cynthia Lennon sues John Lennon for divorce on adultry
1969 Hurricane Camille strikes U.S. Gulf Coast kills 255
1979 200 black leaders, meet in NY, to support Andrew Young
1982 Gen Ariel Sharon urges Palestinians to discuss peaceful coexistence
1984 Met pitcher Dwight Gooden becomes the 11th rookie to strikeout 200
1984 Rep convention in Dallas renominates Pres Reagan & VP Bush
1986 NASA announces tests designed to verify ignition pressure dynamics
1987 Madonna's "Who's "That Girl," single goes #1
1988 Australia unveils 1st platinum coin (Koala)
1989 1st complete ring around Neptune discovered
1989 Nolan Ryan strikes out his 5,000th batter
1990 Pres Bush calls up military reserves
1996 President Clinton signed welfare legislation ending guaranteed cash payments to the poor and demanding work from recipients.(after being beat up by the GOP for not signing)


Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"
American Rebellion Day
Be an Angel Day
Weird Contest Week Ends
National Religious Software Week Begins
National Catfish Month


Religious Observances
RC : Memorial of the Queenship of Mary (Immaculate Heart)
RC Timotheus, martyr to Rome
Zen-Kamakura Japan Foundation ceremonies at Kenchoji


Religious History
1670 In Massachusetts, English-born colonial missionary John Eliot, 66, founded an Indian church at Martha's Vineyard, with educated Indians Hiacoomes and Tackanash appointed pastor and teacher, respectively.
1800 Birth of Edward B. Pusey, English biblical scholar and Tractarian spokesman. A devoted church leader all his life, Pusey worked to establish religious orders in Anglicanism, founding in 1845 the first Anglican sisterhood.
1831 Birth of William H. Cummings, English musicologist. In 1855 he adapted a theme from Mendelssohn's "Festgesang," which afterward became the melody of the Christmas carol, "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing."
1948 The Amsterdam Assembly of the World Council of Churches convened (through Sept 4) to ratify the Constitution for this newly-formed experiment in organizational and global Christian unity.
1968 Pope Paul VI arrived in Colombia, making his the first-ever papal visit to South America.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.


Thought for the day :
"Early to rise and ditto to bed, make a man healthy, but socially dead."


Excuses For Missing Work...
The dog ate my car keys. We're going to hitchhike to the vet.


Top 10 Difference Between Cats & Dogs...
7. Dogs will bring you your slippers or the evening newspaper. Cats might bring you a dead mouse.


You Might Be An Engineer If...
You still think Tron was the best movie ever made


Dumb Laws...
Maryland:
Thistles may not grow in one's yard.


47 posted on 08/22/2004 7:52:25 AM PDT by Valin (Mind like a steel trap - rusty and illegal in 37 states.)
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To: SAMWolf

In one of my previous kobs I would actually schedule some of my work on Sunday nites so I could listen to the good DR. It made a dreary task somewhat more enjoyable, at least for two hours.

Have to get back to work, my son is over helping with weekend #75 of the weekend home improvement project. Only two or three weekends to go, I hope.

Regards

alfa6 ;>}


48 posted on 08/22/2004 7:52:38 AM PDT by alfa6 (70 folders down, 280+ to go)
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To: aomagrat
She was launched on my birthday...years before I was born, but the month and day are the same. ;-)


49 posted on 08/22/2004 8:03:53 AM PDT by snippy_about_it (Fall in --> The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul.)
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To: snopercod

I enjoyed researching this thread. Lots of stories about troops marching through Europe and finding Kilroy had already been there. LOL.


50 posted on 08/22/2004 8:04:42 AM PDT by snippy_about_it (Fall in --> The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul.)
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To: Valin
0565 St Columba reported seeing monster in Loch Ness

I had no idea the legend was this old!

51 posted on 08/22/2004 8:05:49 AM PDT by snippy_about_it (Fall in --> The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul.)
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To: SAMWolf

Hey Sam.


52 posted on 08/22/2004 8:07:41 AM PDT by Aeronaut (A “sensitive war” will not destroy the evil men who killed 3,000 Americans.)
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To: snippy_about_it

I didn't either.


53 posted on 08/22/2004 8:27:31 AM PDT by Valin (Mind like a steel trap - rusty and illegal in 37 states.)
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To: snippy_about_it

Good morning, Snippy. You picked a good choice of topics for this morning. :-)


54 posted on 08/22/2004 8:31:40 AM PDT by Humal
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To: SAMWolf

Yes, Kilroy adorned several of my papers when I was in school too. Today's smiley face is the new Kilroy. :-)


55 posted on 08/22/2004 8:32:41 AM PDT by Humal
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To: Humal

Thanks Humal. I'm trying to find something that stays with our mission but is a little lighter, at least for Sundays...short and sweet. All ideas are welcome. ;-)


56 posted on 08/22/2004 8:42:26 AM PDT by snippy_about_it (Fall in --> The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul.)
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To: snippy_about_it

Hey thank. Kilroy was relentless! I wonder if the GIs today use him. The cartoons were great. Appreciate the ping.


57 posted on 08/22/2004 9:22:20 AM PDT by ex-snook ("BUT ABOVE ALL THINGS, TRUTH BEARETH AWAY THE VICTORY")
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To: snippy_about_it
I marvel at the different topics you and Sam come up with; usually 7 per week. I've wondered if you use a calendar to find out what was happening on that day in history.

The only thing that comes to mind in the way of "light" are the "Remember When" e-mails that float around. You all have covered so much, I don't remember them all. You may have already done that. I'll think about it.
58 posted on 08/22/2004 10:34:56 AM PDT by Humal
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Comment #59 Removed by Moderator

To: snippy_about_it; bentfeather; Samwise
Good afternoon ladies. Flag-o-gram.

Engineer Dudes!


The soldiers of New York’s 2nd Battalion, 108th Infantry; along with the attached soldiers of the 1st Infantry Division’s Task Force 1-18 Infantry, Task Force 1-77 Armor and the 141st Engineer Battalion of the North Dakota Army National Guard; are thankful to the Yankees organization for donating the hats and their show of support. Due to their efforts, the soldiers got a morale boost and the Yankees may have gained a few more fans, even as far away from the Bronx as North Dakota.

60 posted on 08/22/2004 11:42:07 AM PDT by Professional Engineer (Forget "Kilroy", P.E. was here!!)
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