BANDON - He works a dozen feet above U.S. Highway 101.

Cars and trucks below blur by.

Wilburn “Whitey” Thames remains focused on the task at hand, oblivious to the danger of his occupation. Thames is one cool customer and risk is second nature to him.

Thames is a journeyman iron worker and a member of the Iron Workers of America Local 29 out of Portland. He began working as an iron worker more than 55 years ago, and since September, the 76-year-old has been working as day-shift foremen for the Bullards Bridge vertical clearance project in Bandon.

“It was a calling for me,” he said about his lifelong career.

And his accomplishment hasn't been ignored. The Iron Workers union newsletter, the Labor Press in Portland, recently announced Thames is the oldest active iron worker in Oregon - and quite possibly in the nation.

He's retired a few times - the first time at age 58 - but kept coming back to work.

“I just got tired of sitting around, and I enjoy doing the work,” he said.

That work has taken Thames all over the world. At times, he even found himself in the middle of conflict and intrigue.

He was working in the oil fields of Saudi Arabia during the Six-Day War, which was fought between Israel and the Arab states of Egypt, Jordan, Iraq and Syria in 1967. He also was working in Libya when Col. Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi led a small group of military officers in a coup d'état against King Idris I, on Sept. 1, 1969.

“We were at an oil pumping station in the desert, 5,000 miles from nowhere, when we noticed something was wrong,” Thames said.

He was one of eight Americans. They were supervising hundreds of Arab workers. One day none of those workers showed up at the job.

“When we went to their camp, they said there was big trouble, and then a jeep with a machine gun mounted on it pulled up and some serious looking men got out and checked us out,” Thames recalled.

There were a few tense moments, but finally the men left.

While there still is some degree of danger to Thames' job, it lacks that Middle Eastern suspense. Thames estimates he has worked on 30 bridges during his lifetime, mainly in the Pacific Northwest. For the Bullards Bridge project, his focus is on basic iron work.

“We are taking out some of the old iron and putting new pieces in, some of which are rusted away,” he said.

While the job may sound mundane, Bullards Bridge is unusual.

“One thing about this bridge is that it is a draw-span bridge, which they are not building much anymore.”

The span is called a camel-back bridge because of its raised arch in the center.

“The newer bridges are concrete or girder spans now,” Thames explained.

Bullards Bridge is heavily used, and it's only a matter of time before it will have to be replaced.

“It's pretty worn out,” he said.

Thames added that when the bridge was built in 1954, it was supporting less than half the amount of traffic it is now. Instead of replacing the bridge, each of the cross pieces is being raised an additional 2 feet, and the end posts and trusses are being reinforced.

“The (clearance of the) bridge was 14 feet, 10 inches, and over the years it has been beat on and hit many times,” said Darell Martini, senior inspector and surveyor of the project for the Oregon Department of Transportation.

For Martini, having Thames on the job brings peace of mind.

“I have been a construction inspector for more than 16 years, and if I had a foreman like Whitey on every job, my job would have been much easier,” he said.

Martini believes Thames' generation has a work ethic that sometimes the younger workers don't have.

“Whitey is one of those people that get it done the first time, correctly and efficiently, and he is really a joy to work with.”

This is the second time Thames has worked on a South Coast bridge.

“He's come full circle, 50 years later and about 20 miles from where his second job was,” Martini said.

The first was in 1952 over the Coos River.

He's comes full circle with his crew, too. Many of the current work crew's fathers and grandfathers worked beside Thames in years' past. Workers on the Bullards Bridge project range in age from 19 to 76, and Thames is proud to be a mentor. His coworkers' fondness for him is unmistakable.

“I met Whitey when I first got into the iron trade in 1989 and it is fortunate I got a chance to work with him,” Portlander Derek Levy said.

He finds Thames' knowledge to be immeasurable.

“He has forgotten more than I will ever know,” he said, half in admiration and half jokingly.

Kevin Jensen, secretary and treasurer for Local 29, said Thames worked with his father, and he feels Thames possesses extraordinary talent.

“The best thing about Whitey is that he embodies what quality work is all about,” he said. “He's an old bridge man.”

Acceptance of danger and humility is something that comes easily to Thames, and regarding the honor of being the oldest active iron worker, he said he hasn't given it much thought.

“There's nothing to it,” Thames said. “I am just lucky to be here.”