The mission of the Oregon Coast Military Heritage Museum is twofold; first to educate the members of the coastal communities concerning the roles our military members (both past and present) have played in defending the freedoms we all enjoy, and second, to provide an avenue for veterans to display and share their personal artifacts, memorablilia, memoirs, and as a oral and visual history of their honorable military service.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Kilroy, the legend appears to have started back during WWII. There are numerous explanations about the actual origins of Kilroy and some of them are pretty amazing. Among them are stories dealing with famed author Isaac Asimov, as well as one that ties it to the book and movie 'Catch 22'; another one derives from an Irish legend, and yet another emanates from a story about a war-time factory worker and a gal named Rosie from California, perhaps Rosie the Riveter?

But the most prevalent of all the legends seems to have its roots in a shipyard inspector back east named James Kilroy. Even it has variations, but they all point to him leaving proof on his inspection points that in fact it was inspected, hence 'Kilroy Was Here'. Some of those inspection points (such as ship bulkheads) were never painted over, so by the time the ship or equipment made it to the battle front, it still bore the evidence that 'Kilroy Was Here.' It caught on with the GIs as the image spread through the various theaters of battle, and some GIs even helped propagate the legend by adding their own version on pill boxes and train cars. Eventually it took off with a life of its own and today we have the famous character Kilroy that you see in the heading above! It became a real moral booster for the troops!

Like that famous character Kilroy, who was always popping up before any troops or sailors arrived on the battle front, here in Florence, OR we're going to start our own 'Kilroy Corps,' for the Oregon Coast Military Heritage Museum. The museum will be created from those folks like yourself, who, before the actual museum is created, made their presence known first (just like Kilroy) by making an initial token donation of $20 to our museum fund.

We can use all the help we can get to make this dream come true, so please consider joining and being a charter member of the Kilroy Corps!

Thank you for your support in building a memorable tribute

to our men and women who have served our nation!