In his filing with the UNR trust, he claimed he handled "Unibestos insulation" at the San Francisco Naval Shipyard at a time when he said he was a rifleman who merely passed through the yard to board a troopship.
The yard, based on the River Torridge, has built more than 350 ships, including naval fishery protection vessels, trawlers, passenger-vehicle ferries, dredgers and bulk carriers.