POST FALLS — Carl Miller turned 100 years old on Friday, and he was to be the center of attention at a family party that night.

When asked how he was feeling, the World War II veteran paused. He’s seen and done a lot in this lifetime, both good and bad. He saw men live and die. He saw people sacrifice their lives for others. He hasn’t forgotten.

“Kind of used,” he said, smiling.

Still, glad to be here, right?

“Well, I’m not too sure. I’m ready to go home. When you’re 100, you’re ready to go home,” he said Friday afternoon at The Bridge, an assisted living facility in Post Falls, where he is a resident.

Son Chuck Miller of Coeur d’Alene, sitting nearby with wife Julie, said his father is “a great guy,” dedicated to faith and family. Carl Miller and wife Catherine, who died in 1982, brought up four boys in Southern California.

“How do you raise four boys and not kill us?” Chuck Miller said, laughing.

His father was born in South Dakota, where he was raised on “seven sections of land. Seven sections,” he repeated. “That’s a lot of acreage.”

Carl Miller worked that land growing up until he married in his early 20s.

“The war came along and took us apart,” he said.

He served in the Navy for three years. A Third Class Petty Officer, he considered his role as postmaster on the USS Ozark “the best job in the world.”

It came with a private room and a chance to leave the ship at every port to dispatch or pick up mail.

“You couldn’t get that for a job,” he said.

The Ozark was involved in campaigns at Luzon, Okinawa and Iwo Jima in the Pacific against Japan.

“That was hell,” he said of Iwo Jima in a previous interview with The Press. “I was there 14 days. It was awful.”

The Ozark, he said, had several roles, including being a transport ship and acting as a floating hospital where the wounded were treated. The Ozark, with Miller on board, delivered troops for battles and would later make several trips delivering wounded American soldiers to safety.

He recalled when the American flag was raised on Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima on Feb. 23, 1945.

“As soon as it was announced, I walked out of the post office to the starboard side of the ship and looked up,” he told The Press in a previous interview. “There was the flag.”

Miller said the Ozark was the first ship in Tokyo Bay. He was present, quite by surprise, when the Japanese signed their surrender on Sept. 2, 1945, aboard the USS Missouri.

He recalled receiving a wakeup call at 2:30 a.m. and told to pick up military brass from select ships and deliver them to the Missouri.

Later, he returned to the Missouri with mail.

“That was my ringside seat to watch all the signing of the peace treaty with Japan,” he said.

He recalled the Navy officers aboard were dressed in white, facing the starboard side.

“It was quite a sight,” he said.

Miller chuckled when his son reminded him he was the only one there without a camera to capture the historic moment.

“Too bad I didn’t have a camera,” he said.

Miller returned home and worked as a general manager with a Ford tractor agency in Anaheim, Calif., for 30 years.

“My territory was Orange County,” he said proudly.

Miller was a member of Gideons International for 60 years, raising funds, distributing Bibles and speaking at churches and schools on behalf of the worldwide Christian ministry.

His faith, he said, is everything.

“Christ is my Lord and savior. I’m headed to be with him,” Miller said.

When asked to reflect on his life, offer some final thoughts, he said. “It’s not going to last very much longer. When you reach 100, you ought to be just about done.”

Carl Miller can rest easy knowing he's done a lot.