| Description | Tape 1 Side A LEWIS VERNON DUGGER born 1915, Arkansas. Second of 8 children. Details re siblings. Paternal grandfather a dirt farmer from Kentucky. He used a horse and buggy. Recalls stern grandmother. Details re farm, poor life. Mother's names. Grandfather a farmer in rough Arkansas country. Describes him. Mentions molasses mill, peach orchards. Names in family. Father a carpenter, came to oilfield in 1919. Details re his work, employers. Story of a blowout, his role in situation. Further details re blowout, subsequent treatment. Childhood home a 2-room shack. Details. Oil City, Louisiana, neighbourhood was a dirt road in the country. Father had a horse and buggy, later bought Ford cars. Closest neighbours a mile away in first home. Made pocket money from oil workers. Explains. Describes father, his work with Muslow Oil Company, wells that had to be pumped. He was strict but fair. Two brothers died from haemophilia. Recalls getting news of brother's death. Mentions family grave north of Oil City. Relationship with father. Recalls his losing money in a bank that went broke. After that he didn't trust banks, bought land. Details. Oil found under father's land which is now owned by family. Describes mother. She died early through diabetes complications. Mentions own diabetes, better management now thank in mother's time. Recalls place of religion in childhood. Parents not politically involved. Explains support for George Bush, George Bush senior. Recalls being driver for Republican Party. Local support for Bush. In childhood, blacks were farmhands, pulling corn, in manual labour. Went to segregated schools. Later, had black friends. Details re schooling. Recalls admired teachers.
Tape 1 Side B Explains growing interest in history. Influential person in growing up years was younger sister. She won scholarship, college degree. Own results at school. Recalls trading in bootleg days, drinking corn whisky. Father only family member to smoke (a pipe). Occasional visitors at home. Recalls Christmas time. Father a hunter, of squirrels only. Explains. Close family. Is a child of Depression. Details re first job with oil company as roustabout, pay. Later job firing boilers with D. Thompson drilling company on steam rig. Describes processes in detail, terminology used. Able to do jobs usually done by older people. Taught by father to work on machinery when young. Next employer Magnolia Petroleum Company, later Mobil Oil. Later worked on diesel, natural gas powered rigs. Background to joining Noble Drilling on derricks in South Louisiana 1940. Stayed with them 43 years. Recalls effects of Depression. Attitude to jobs then. Didn't go hungry in country. Registered for war draft. Recalls Herman Douthit later killed at Eakring. Describes him. Details re Noble drilling, company history, other companies in the field. Employed as derrickman/monkey boy. Describes work. Technical detail. Explains working of Hughes tricorn bit invented by Howard Hughes' father. Wells sometimes 10 thousand feet deep. Responsibilities when making hole - taking care of mud pumps. Explains contents of mud, mixing process, weight of mud. Attitude of d'Arcy company in England to drilling with water, opposite approach by Americans. Contrasts drilling methods. Reference to book 'The Secret of Sherwood Forest'. Was one of first two drillers on first rig in d'Arcy yard (in Eakring). Details re speed of Americans' drilling speed.
Tape 2 Side A 1940 Monkey boy with Noble (cont'd). Recalls workmates 'Spike' Miller, Henry Moff. Recalls leisure activities, duck and bear hunting, golf. Mentions hazard of skin cancer. 1943 was a driller. Understanding of war situation at that time, possibility of Hitler's taking Britain. Details of meeting with wife, a nurse, on blind date. Details re her names etc. Marriage in 1941. Marrying an oilman she had to be a vagabond. Explains need to move with the rig. Steam rigs phased out. Sequence of types of power used over the years. Problems using salt water in bore. Situation now - big changes, particularly with deep water drilling, use of computers, satellites. 1943 Secret Eakring, UK, assignment. Recalls first approach about job. Mentions status as driller in wartime. Details of proposed salary. Mentions family situation, birth control. Feelings about prospect of going away. Didn't know where work was to be. Reason for choosing job over army service. Negotiations with Draft Board for release to take on job. Names of colleagues approached for job. Involvement of Guy Woodward, Noble's attorney, leading to release from draft. Explains term 'coon-ass'. Secured passport, prepared to leave country, had to get statement from sheriff. Details. Travel plans for drilling crew. Mentions tool pusher who got fired for getting drunk before departure resulting in own promotion from derrickman to driller. Explains ranks in crew, role of driller. Went to New York. Details re accommodation. Procedure re living expenses in New York. Changes to travel arrangement because of crash of Pan Am Yankee Clipper. Reference to album, Queen Elizabeth daily newspaper, 'Elizabethan News'.
Tape 3 Side A Worked closely with New Zealand tool pusher Alan Rutherford. Describes. Explains 'spudding in', air raid warning routine, precautions, telephone communications. Recalls schemes of getting coal for warmth. 'National 50' rigs, C150 mud pumps brought from US. Describes their capability, procedures followed. Mud used came from hole. Dimensions, shape, assembly, use of drilling equipment. Assembled rig in less than 4 hours. Recalls briefing on job to be done - 100 wells to be drilled within a year. Did better than that. First well in Eakring yard. Details. Explains way of recognising oil strike. D'Arcy crews determined where holes were to be drilled. Explains drilling procedures in detail, what happened when oil struck, placement of rig. Worked 12 noon to 12 midnight. Describes typical daily routine, meals, transport. Details re own 4-man crew, their names, roles, drilling procedures, use of 'kelly'. Recalls trying to train Englishmen. Reference to photographs in album. Details re English workers, military rejects, need to train them for when Americans left. Reasons for American 2 workers being fired. Details of a fracas. Cases of homesickness, misfits. Most were good workers. Dissatisfaction with food. Mentions good food supplied to US Army. Eakring crew got together, demanded better rations from Gene Rosser, threatened to go home. Rosser went to see general in London. Result - direct order from General John C H Lee to supply better food, for cash. Details re food. Later a cigarette, cigar ration issued which had not even been requested. Recalls other material supplied. Conditions of average English person, rations. Describes Eugene Rosser.
Tape 3 Side B Eugene Rosser (cont'd). Describes him, his ways. Recalls administrator John 'Mother' Walker. Explains his nickname. Further details of own daily routine. Meals delivered to worksite from D'Arcy commissariat. Didn't try to camouflage rigs from local people although other accounts say the contrary. Explains drilling routine to certain depths. Production people were English. Possible reason for not being bombed by Germans. Details, effects of low lighting. Possible consequences of bombing nodding donkeys or attacking in other ways, German priorities. Oil taken to Scotland for refining. Oil production increase during Americans' time there. Recalls explanations to locals about activities at Eakring. One married worker got involved with local woman, later married her. Mentions Fox Inn pub. Circumstances leading to accidental death of Herman Douthit, technical details of 'cat head' etc. Details of Douthit's slip, fall. Rigs shut down for one shift for funeral, then back to work. Douthit buried eventually in military cemetery in Cambridge. Reference to video tape of later dedication. No impact on morale of workers. Explains. Details re Herman Douthit. Little time off during week. Details. Explains process of setting casing before taking recreation time off. Limitation to pub visits. Mentions closing times. Contact with family by letters. Recalls censoring process. Taught not to write about work. Recalls return postal address. Wife, registered nurse, joined Army Nursing Corps, sent to Wales as 2nd lieutenant officer. Saw each other during this period. Details re hurried end of posting. Problems with Gene Rosser's passport being taken to the US. Own routine with passport. All other workers but self went home. Recalls Father Gregory, attending couple of services.
Tape 4 Side A Recalls completion of 106 wells. Met with wife and (later Sir) Philip Southwell of D'Arcy Petroleum in London. Impression of him. Life at Eakring was restricted by hours of work. Recalls visits to Fox Inn. Explains own philosophy of work, ambitiousness - need to be better than others. Recalls later years of work as supervisor in charge of 2 to 6 rigs, subsequent appointment to safety role. Comments on OSH, involvement of government in business. Recalls own approach to safety, climbing derricks (for safety checks) till age 67, use of counterweights. Recalls attitude to safety when in England. Drilled 106 wells in less than a year. Asked by D'Arcy to stay but turned them down. Oil was good quality, served Spitfires, Hurricanes. Recalls blizzard which brought programme to end. Feelings about book on Sherwood Forest, emphasis on Gene Rosser. Some information in book is fiction. Gives example of 'bomb crater' story. Recalls bicycle transport at Eakring. Details re own drilling crew, responsibilities. Recalls bombing raid in London, Rosser's version of event. Stoic reaction of old English ladies. Had to report regularly in London to American Embassy re transportation to US. Mentions later trip to Wales to visit wife. Details re food in London. Recalls quiet departure from Eakring. Workers disappeared without any fanfare, no farewells. No socialising in London with Rosser. Recalls Hyde Park soap box speakers. Went home in Queen Mary. Wife stayed in Wales. Feelings about arriving back in New York after blackout in England, pride at being American. Recalls good food on Queen Mary.
Tape 4 Side B. Reference to album. Details of instructions for return home to US, secrecy surrounding arrangements. Didn't talk about UK work on ship. Around 2000 people on ship. Compares with voyage to UK. Planned vacation but went straight back to work in Natches, Mississippi, because of Draft Board. Details of work. Comments on 1944 story in Chicago Tribune about Eakring operation in spite of secrecy. Recalls Gaumont British News coming to Eakring, response to their requests re 'trained' trucks. Describes rolling tailboards. Comments on interview with Lloyd Noble in the Ardmorite newspaper, 1946. Reference to album of Eakring period 1943-44. Picture of group in New York. Details of names, items, page by page. Explains selection of self for Eakring job. Other workers selected from all over the country. Mentions re wife's appointment as nursing officer. Comments on other artefacts, eg driving license, postal order. Recalls Herman Douthit's funeral, procession etc. Mentions military involvement, his burial in military cemetery. Signatures of workmates on pound note. Comments on other papers, letters, photographs of rigs. Comments on English roughnecks, their ability to learn. Explains use of drill collars, difference between speed of English and American ways of working - one by hand, the other with machinery. Mentions small amount of traffic on English roads. Other ephemera.
Tape 5 Side A Reference to album (cont'd). Recalls first reunion at Ardmore 1987, Sam Noble, Gene Rosser etc. Regular reunions held. Details. Reference to A J May, Gordon Sams. Rosser died 1992. He became consultant in Texas. Eakring experience would have been high point in his life. Photographs, names of other former fellow workers at reunion. Describes Rosser's character. Reference to Jim Day, CEO of Noble, Noble Foundation, Dean Sims. Recalls construction of statue to honour the Eakring drillers. Rosser known as the bulldog. Other ephemera. Recalls feelings on return to Eakring, Sherwood Forest, (Dukes Wood) celebration, unveiling of statue. Reference to replica of statue in Ardmore, possibility of one in Washington. Mentions difference between Dukes Wood, Ardmore statues. Eakring experience was at beginning of career. 1944-47 driller in South Louisiana, South East Texas, North Carolina, Colorado. 1947-52 tool pusher. 1952-74 drilling superintendent. 1974-83 in charge of safety programme for Nobles. Retired in 1983. 1983-99 consultant, usually defending oil companies against person hurt. Reason for quitting consulting. 1988 Piper Alpha disaster: Noble bought out drilling contractor. Explains conditions of purchase re lawsuits. Currently Noble operate successful labour pool out of Aberdeen, Scotland. Interviewed by Guy and Grace Woodward for their book, The Secret of Sherwood Forest. Details re them. Reference to files on Eakring at University of Wyoming.
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