Texas City is the only one I ever heard him speak of but he he worked inside the ships painting. Later he worked on homes (Jim Walters?) that were insulated with asbestos.
Home insulation was sold as vermiculite and contained asbestos fibres incidental to the mining process; even though they are included in the overall abatement efforts, these particular fibres are not of the type that indeed cause grave and lasting harm to the deepest part of the lungs.
I have boxes of study material that I collected from before the time a blanket ban went into effect and while the debate was raging the manufacturers opted for bankruptcy in the face of the overwhelming numbers of mostly unsupported lawsuits and the die was cast.
As it turns out, most of the asbestos that has the barb shaped fibres are not mined in the U.S. and it is these that actually hook onto the tissues and remain imbedded in the lung sacs where they can no longer be expelled by the normal action of the alveoli and end up rarely but fatally causing mesothelioma, a condition in violation of the sac itself.
Asbestosis is a disabling condition over time which effects are pretty much the same as chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD).
In cases of COPD where smoking is not involved a physcian will take a work history and any mining experience, cement worker experience or work around any material containing asbestos will be diagnosis with that influence being treated as a causative factor.
Coal miner's Black Lung, silicosis and other terms are used for medical purposes but do not indict the entire market in the way that asbestosis and mesothelioma have done.
In the end, most major systems shut down, use them while you can.