Stealth Pilot wrote in
:


they are fascinating pieces of folk history so when I find one out it
sticks in the memory.

Kilroy was a government guy pressed into the task of inspecting the
quality of the hastily built cargo ships the americans turned out for
the shipping task to england. he had no way of remembering where he
had previously inspected so he developed the habit of chalking 'Kilroy
was here" to remind himself of sections he had already inspected. the
internal sections were eventually welded into the structure.

weeks later when torpedo damage was being repaired the workers would
cut away sealed parts and find the mysterious chalk marks "Kilroy was
here". the endearing puzzle being how did they get there in sealed
sections?

the mystery was explained a few years ago in a news radio segment
where someone actually tracked down the guy and got him to explain the
riddle.

I always wondered where that came from. You'd still see it as graffiti as
late as the 70s. i suppose years form now people will be explaining the
origins of "where's the beef" to the bewilderment of the youngsters who
won't be able to understand why anyone would eat something infected with e-
coli and BSE..

Bertie