I just caught this thread and thought I'd add a little. I well remember the Kilroy symbol. And it was, as so many have said, just a joke, a laugh, a little statement originally scrawled all over Europe by the American soldiers during WWII. As a house builder, then a house remodeler, now a deck builder, I often run into my own evidences of earlier "Kilroys." It's very common for me to take apart a structure that was built 30 - 40 - 80 or more years ago. I often find, on the backside of various pieces, the building carpenters notes: measurments, notes, and occasionally I will find a carpenters signatures and dates. I call these time capsules. (Yes, I still do the same today). So, Kilroy wasn't the first, just one of the more well known. CHEERS to all, Bob(deckman)Nelson