Keith A

I've just checked the album notes for the Walters & Warner CD "Who was here?" They give almost the same quote from Ewan MacColl as you, except that their version says "the one who not only gets up after the battle and walks away, but allows himself time to let you know he has done so".

Shanty Steve

From the same source, here are the words:

KILROY WAS HERE
(Ewan MacColl)

Who was here when they handed out the heavy jobs
Jobs with the hammer, the pick and shovel
Who choked in the foundry, froze in the fish docks,
Eight days in the week?

Who was here with a mile of rock above him,
Three foot seam in the darkness crouching
Stinging sweat in his eyes, powdered rock in his spittle
One hundred minutes to the hour?

Who was here in the furrowed fields crouched over
Pain shapes the question in bone and muscle
Roots and hands competing, fumbling, groping
Twenty eight hours to the day?

Who was here in a world of steam and clamour
Feeding Leviathan in his cavern
Tasting the hot sharp stink of metal
Six weeks to the month?

Hey there, dogsbody, what do they call you?
Who cleans up the mess when the fighting's over?
Who carries the broom, the mop and the bucket
Thirty six months to the year?

Smooth-faced old-boy men instructed him
Geldings programmed his energy
Coached in running by men whose arches had fallen
Dead men taught him how to live.

Kilroy, Kilroy, where has Kilroy gone?
Kilroy was here, see there's his mark.
He came this way, he was wearing his number.
Did no-one see him pass?