Was he a riveter at Harland and Wolff?My old man was a shipyard welder, (he actually served his apprenticeship as a riveter as welding hadn't been invented yet).
Before WW2 he travelled all over Britain working in different shipyards.
He said that back home grass was growing on the slipways and the Unionist government wouldn't intervene to help.
However, once war started and the Yanks arrived, money was no object, he was working 7 days a week, he was getting paid in wads of big white fivers.
Those lads knew how to work hard for a living.