Elmer “Dunk” Duncan, 100, formerly of Poland, sits at the assisted-living facility in Vero Beach, Fla., with his wife, Louise. He served in the Navy during World War II and was in the Reserve during the Korean War.

Navy veteran Elmer Duncan recently described how he feels about turning 100, which he did earlier this month.

“Like an old man,” he said, before adding more details about the celebration. “We’re having a big party over at the clubhouse — all my family, Louise’s family, bridge players and some old friends.”

After growing up in Castlewood, Pa., a small town between New Castle and Ellwood City, Duncan relocated to Poland, where he founded Duncan’s Bath and Kitchen Center.

He couldn’t wait to join the military. His mother gave him permission in November 1942. He chose the Navy, although his neighborhood friend opted for the Army, telling Duncan, “I can run faster than I can swim.”

Duncan served on the USS Gantner in charge of the main engine room.

“We operated on steam turbines. Eventually I ended up as a throttle man. The officers on the bridge would tell me fast forward or how many knots and my job was to run these four levers to whatever they asked for,” he said.

The Gantner operated as an escort.

“We would take convoys. We were called foxes. We were on the outskirts to pick up submarines because the Germans were running those in wolfpacks. Every once in a while you would see a ship explode way off on the horizon and we knew we missed a submarine,” Duncan said.

Besides fighting Nazis, the crew also struggled with the rough seas of the North Atlantic. He laughed about seasick sailors lined up in the restroom.

But there was a darker side as people sometimes were washed off the ship and there was no way to help.

“You would throw them a life raft, but of course, they would never get the raft,” Duncan said.

The ship installed an ice cream maker. Duncan was the only one who could operate it, so he always got the first bowl.

“In about six months I went up for chow and they had ice cream and didn’t call me because they knew how to work it. That night I went up and took a couple pieces of equipment off the machine and put them in my locker. The next time, they called me. I told them you call me any time and I’ll start it. I always had my bowl of ice cream,” Duncan said.

By 1945, the Gantner was in the Pacific transporting Navy Seals. They were laying mines off the coast of Japan in preparation for an invasion just as the peace treaty was being signed in Tokyo Bay.

Duncan returned home soon afterward and married his high school sweetheart, Marian. He wanted to be a plumber, but couldn’t get into the union in New Castle because he didn’t have connections.

He moved to Youngstown and was hired as a plumber’s apprentice through the Veterans Administration. With the help of his father-in-law, he built a house in Poland.

Duncan was in the Navy Reserve and, he said, “they paid me about $9 a week.”

He eventually stopped going because he didn’t need the money anymore. He told Marian the Navy would forget all about him, but then the Korean War started and he was told once again to report for duty.

When he boarded the USS Bairoko, “these officers could almost kiss me because I was one of the few men who had experience with steam. They were so glad to see this old guy who was 28.”

One day he sent four men in his division down to clean the bilges, saying he would return in a few hours to relieve them.

“When I was coming back in the ship I heard this explosion. Somehow they poured high octane gas down there. A welder topside was welding with the cap open and a spark went down and blew the side of the tank out,” Dunan said.

All four men were killed. He said he still feels grateful to the volunteers who pulled out the bodies.

In 1953, he was home for good, and three years later he started his own business, E.H. Duncan Bath and Kitchen.

“It went so well that I opened up this storeroom selling kitchens and bathrooms and designing them.”

It still is thriving today, and he credits his son, Tom and grandson, Jason for continuing to grow the company.

In 1987, Marian died. He remarried a year later and took his new wife Rita to Florida, but within a year she died of a brain tumor. Eventually, he met Louise at a dance in Port St. Lucie. They married in 1989 and have been together since.

Duncan now lives in The Renaissance, an assisted living facility in Vero Beach. A back injury has made him less active, but not that long ago, they would go ballroom dancing two or three times every week. He played tennis and softball and was an avid golfer well into his 90s. Louise said Duncan has gotten a hole-in-one four different times.

His religious life has been important to him. At Poland United Methodist Church, he was a financial secretary, Sunday School teacher, and leader in men’s organizations. Duncan and Louise have been involved in churches in Florida as well.

Duncan expressed how times have changed. “Until I was in high school we never had a phone. The neighbors did and if somebody would call they would stick their head out the door and yell and we’d have to go to the next block. Now everybody has a cell phone. Somebody calls and texts me. I have no idea how to work them.”

But he also noted a difference in morals. “We never swore. I never had a bottle of beer until I was a thousand miles away from home.”

Duncan expressed love and pride in all his family. He said he is grateful to Louise.

“I have a super wife.

She keeps me going. I couldn’t do it without her.”

Elmer H. ‘Dunk’ Duncan

AGE: 100

RESIDENCE: Vero Beach, Fla., but formerly of Poland

SERVICE BRANCH: Navy

MILITARY HONORS: World War II Medal, Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal, European African Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, American Campaign Medal, National Defense Medal and Korean Service Medal

OCCUPATION: Retired owner of Duncan’s Bath and Kitchen Center

FAMILY: Wife, Louise (married 34 years); children, Richard (deceased), Jane and Tom; three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.