[Ads-l] "Who was Kilroy?" June 26, 1945 (in-print antedating?)

Fri Mar 26 13:31:59 UTC 2021

In March 1945 the "Fort Worth Star-Telegram" printed a letter signed
by Pvt. W. P. Kilroy who stated that he was stationed at Sheppard
Field, Texas. He complained about the "tall tales" told by Texans.

Perhaps W. P. Kilroy was the target of a practical joke that
escalated. Alternatively, his name was coincidental.

Date: March 18, 1945
Newspaper: Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Newspaper Location: Fort Worth, Texas
Article: Letters From the People - Sick of Tall Tales
Author: Pvt. W. P. Kilroy
Section 2, Quote Page 3, Column 2
Database: Newspapers.com

https://www.newspapers.com/image/637560396/?terms=KILROY

[Begin excerpt]
Speaking seriously, I was stationed in Pyote 53 weeks and have been
here at Sheppard Field since Nov. 13, and I am sick of the bragging
the people of Texas call "tall tales." . . .
. . . but all this bragging gives Texas a bad name with the hundreds
of thousands of soldiers who have trained in its many Army Navy and
Air Force installations. How many Easterners do you think will come
back to Texas to live after the war? Darn few!
PVT. W. P. KILROY
Sheppard Field, Texas
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Thu, Mar 25, 2021 at 9:23 AM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
>
> The forthcoming New Yale Book of Quotations notes that the Texacts newspaper of the Sheppard Field Army base in Texas posed the question "Who is Kilroy?" in its April 21, 1945 issue.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU>
> Sent: Thursday, March 25, 2021 9:10 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Re: "Who was Kilroy?" June 26, 1945 (in-print antedating?)
>
> "Who is Kilroy?"
> Sgt. Roger Angell
> Google Books
>
> SG
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU>
> Sent: Thursday, March 25, 2021 8:50 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: "Who was Kilroy?" June 26, 1945 (in-print antedating?)
>
> A story by Rogel Angell (likely (?) the later-famous baseball writer, who was in the Army Air Forces), Brief vol. 2, no. 30 (title page missing, but by sequence)   page 18/1 [my elipses] [also in later issues of this title, including a letter to editor speculation, July 17 p. 2/3]:
>
> Who is Kilroy?
> Kilroy is the guy who just stepped out of the orderly room as you came in. Kilroy was in the latrine....latest AAF gag. ....  [Kilroy 4x]... "Kilroy ditched here." Kilroy will be here any day, but you won't see him.
>
> Stephen Goranson
> https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http:%2F%2Fpeople.duke.edu%2F~goranson%2F&data=04%7C01%7Cfred.shapiro%40yale.edu%7C3cb7f67e06c74f112ec308d8ef8f6596%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C637522746447628919%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=rZ%2BfDGkvnnOZXFD3CEUWikeXsCf7PdGrcDRG66TIgbU%3D&reserved=0
>
> PS On "in-print":
> Robert Capa, Slightly Out of Focus (NY, 1947) page 210 reports seeing, near Christmastime 1944:
>
> On the black, charred walls of an abandoned farm [near Bastogne] scrawled in white chalk, was the legend of McAuliffe's GI's: KILROY WAS STUCK HERE.
>
>
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