KILROY

Memes didn't begin with the Web, but you'd be forgiven for thinking so.

He's engraved in stone in the National World War II Memorial in Washington, DC - back in a small alcove where very few people have seen it.

Kilroy Was Here is one of the most enduring pieces of graffiti from World War II, symbolizing the widespread reach and resilience of American forces during the conflict. This simple yet powerful doodle of a bald-headed man peeking over a wall, accompanied by the phrase Kilroy Was Here, left its mark across the globe, becoming a legend in its own right.

Hidden in an unassuming nook behind the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., a small engraved cartoon pays homage to the lighter side of the greatest generation. The little bald-headed man known as Kilroy was one of the war's most widespread inside jokes that circulated like a meme through allied forces in the European and Pacific theaters of war.