Ted DuMoulin spent World War II in the engine room of 165-foot ships. He and his comrades were charged with transporting troops to the places they needed to go.

“India, France, Philippines.... you name it, we were there, carrying troops back and forth,” the 93-year-old recalled.

A Machinist Mate first class in the U.S. Coast Guard, DuMoulin stood watch for four hours at a time in the hot, dry engine rooms.

One of three children, DuMoulin said he didn't think twice about joining the Coast Guard reserves. His father died in 1918, shortly after DuMoulin was born. His mother sold fruit to support the family.

“I was always a good worker,” DuMoulin said. “I got in the service what I didn't get in a normal life. I gave orders, I took orders.”

He grew up in Rockaway Beach in Long Island, N.Y., where he became friendly with the Coast Guard station there. DuMoulin's brother, Edward, who was four years older than him, rose to the rank of lieutenant in the Coast Guard.

“The Coast Guard was second nature to us,” DuMoulin said. “We just knew it.”

Most of the four years DuMoulin served was spent on the USS General George M. Randall.

The ship didn't move fast. It traveled at about 14 knots, DuMoulin said, which is roughly 16 miles-per-hour. The experience was unnerving, he said.

“You're in the engine room and you don't know what's going on,” DuMoulin said. “You were frightened. ... If something happened, you'd never get out.”

The soldiers used sonar – which uses sound waves to detect distant objects – to find nearby enemy submarines and determine when to attack.

“People ask me, 'Did ya kill anybody?'” DuMoulin said. “I say, 'I don't know. We tried to.'”

Sea sickness was common among the soldiers serving on the boats. Because the ship was rolling so much, many couldn't eat, DuMoulin said. He remembered chili and peaches frequently being served.

“My locker was filled with graham crackers and raisins,” DuMoulin recalled. “I used to wallow in that stuff.”

DuMoulin said he liked to volunteer to stand watch on the deck of the ship for the soldiers who were sea sick and couldn't work.

“I loved the fresh air,” he said.

Though DuMoulin's experience is difficult to imagine this day and age, 66 years after he was discharged, he remains humble.

“I'm not a hero,” he says sternly, adding that a hero is “somebody who does something outside the normal realm of things.”

DuMoulin doesn't consider himself one of those people. He said he's just one of thousands who volunteered to serve the country during World War II.

“There were some trying times. ... [But] comparing [serving on a ship] to the guys living in the mud... I didn't have that,” he said. “I give them all the credit in the world. They're the real heroes.”

But his colleagues in the town's Department of Veterans Services seem to disagree. They, along with volunteers coordinating this year's Veterans Day parade, chose DuMoulin to be the Grand Marshal.

“I asked them, 'Why me?'” DuMoulin said. “It's a new experience for me, to be honored like this.”

DuMoulin said he dedicates the honor to his wife of 63 years, Edith, who died two years ago. The couple met at a dance in Boston while he was serving in the Coast Guard. He speaks proudly about the 15 years his wife spent working with veterans at the VA Medical Center in West Roxbury.

The couple raised three sons. One son served in the Army and another joined the Coast Guard. The pair moved to Wareham from Newton in the 1980s.

DuMoulin said he is grateful for his experiences in the Coast Guard and to parade coordinators William R. C. White, Sharon Boyer, and John Wagner for choosing him to be the Grand Marshal.

“These experiences that I had...,” he said, trailing off, before putting it succinctly: “I grew up in the service.”