Kilroy was everywhere

To the editor:

I first discovered these words, “Kilroy Was Here,” when I walked into the latrine at Camp Kohler in Sacramento, Calif.

As I stood to do my duty the words “Kilroy Was Here” were written on the wall above the latrine. Slightly below these words was another message: “Stand Up Close, The Next Guy May Have Bare Feet.”

When I got to Camp Edison in New Jersey, the same words were written on the wall above the latrine, “Kilroy Was Here” and “Stand Up Close The Next Guy May Have Bare Feet.” My next camp was Camp Forrest, Tenn. Once again, Kilroy had been there ahead of me and the same messages were written on the wall above the latrine.

Even on a 10-day furlough to Spokane, Wash., at the railroad station, the same two messages were there.

At this point I thought this guy must have a brother. When I got back to Camp Forrest, we were shipped out to Yuma, Ariz. That darn Kilroy had already gotten there ahead of me. From Arizona we were sent to Camp Phillip, Kan. Kilroy had beaten me again. From Kansas we ended up in Camp Miles Standish, Boston, for shipment overseas. He had been there ahead of me again.

And so it went.

In England, where we were stationed, the same messages. The last time I ran across these words was at a replacement depot in Aachen, Germany. I found out after the war that this Kilroy had been in the Pacific as well. I was watching the movie “Patton” on TV the other night, and on one side of the halftracks as he was entering Belguim was the word “Kilroy.”

Harold Leader

Wasilla