Photograph of a completed offshore oil rig located in the Gulf of Mexico. The rig was built at the LeTourneau Industries oil rig building facility south of Vicksburg, Mississippi, which began operation in 1944.

I worked there the summers of 1964 and 1965. It was the hardest work that I ever did. The first summer was with the Mill Wrights, setting huge diesel engines in place with comealongs after they had been lowered into the lower deck of the rig by crane and placed on steel rods so they could be moved. In the summer of 1965, I worked with the Electricians, pulling wiring throughout the rig on racks in the ceiling of the lower deck. Most of it was 2- to 3-inch copper, delivering electricity to the rest of the rig from the generators.