Senior Chief Malcolm L. Craig, US Navy (1927-2006) was a Combat Air Crewman, World War II, Korea and Vietnam Veteran. Malcolm Craig was born in Charlotte, Maine and enlisted in the Navy in 1943 at age 16. After receiving navigation training he became a LORAN (Long Range Navigation) specialist. By the time he retired as […]
LT John Crouchley is the WWII B-24 pilot whose remains were found in Bulgaria and repatriated back for burial in RI in May of 2017. He was flying a B-24 bombing mission on June 28, 1944 against the Titan Oil Refineries in Romania. After completing the bomb run, his plane was attacked by a number […]
COL Ted Crouchley enlisted in the Army Air Corps in July 1941 and earned his wings on Feb. 4, 1942, shortly after Pearl Harbor. Fresh out of B-24 qualification training, he volunteered for a highly dangerous secret mission: a backup plan to bomb Japan in case the April 18, 1942 Doolittle raid — B-25 bombers […]
Henry D’Amico (1921-2009) was born and raised in East Providence to Italian immigrant parents. A graduate of East Providence High School, he was a WWII fighter pilot who flew 75 combat missions over Europe in his P-47 Thunderbolt, affectionately named Li’l-Rhody. As part of the 9th Air Force, 1st Lieutenant D’Amico flew escort flights, dive […]
Captain Frederick E. Dick, US Army Air Corps (1920-2005) was a WWII fighter ace was a long-time Barrington resident.
Captain Archibald H. Douglas, USN (1885-1978) Captain Douglas graduated from the Naval Academy in 1908. He was designated as a Naval Aviator in June of 1918, and saw combat duty in France with the Northern Bombing Group. His aviation career included actions in two World Wars and command of three different aircraft carriers. He first […]
Woonsocket native and lifelong Rhode Island resident CDR Paul G. Farley, USN (Ret) (1917-1993) survived the sinking of the battleship USS Oklahoma at Pearl Harbor and went on to earn two Distinguished Flying Crosses and five Air Medals while flying 600 combat hours in the Pacific.
Colonel Patrick D. Fleming, USAF (USN) (1917-1955) – this former Jamestown resident and 1941 Annapolis graduate was a World War II Hellcat ace and a Navy test pilot who went to flight school in 1943. He received night fighter training at Quonset, where he met his wife-to-be Neville, daughter of retired Navy Commander Owen Bartlett […]
Navy veteran of WWII, local and international businessman, aviator, and inventor, R. W. (Dick) Foote was born in Providence in 1919. Foote’s successful business career followed his service as a Naval Aviator and test pilot during World War II. He was also instrumental in the development of the first “anti-blackout” or “pressure suit”, the forerunner […]
Wisconsin-born Frank Fox met his bride Jane while stationed at Quonset late in World War II, and thereafter considered Rhode Island his home. He earned a Navy Cross in the Battle of Philippine Sea when his Avenger torpedo bomber scored a direct hit on the Japanese carrier Zuikaku, helping send her to the bottom. In […]
Antoine Gazda was an Austrian count, a race car driver, and a World War I fighter ace (on the losing side), but he spent World War II in Providence, living in suite 1009 of the Biltmore Hotel. The work he performed here in Rhode Island was considered so crucial to the Allied war effort that […]
Domenic Giarrusso has spent his life in aviation. At 101 years old (at the time of this writing), he served as an Army Air Corps flight engineer and mechanic in North Africa and Italy during World War II. After the war, he worked as an aircraft mechanic and supervisor at the Naval Air Rework Facility […]
Major John Trevor Godfrey, USAAF (1922 – 1958), World War II Fighter Pilot Born in Canada, Major Godfrey moved to Woonsocket as a young boy. He was Woonsocket High School’s 1940 class president and a football star. He joined the RCAF in 1941 to avenge the death of his brother, and trained in Spitfires with […]
Newport-born Michael Gold (1920-) was a B-17 navigator with the 447th Bombardment Group whose flak-damaged plane was shot down by German fighters on just his fourth combat mission (January 30, 1944). Two crew members were killed by gunfire, and the others bailed out. Gold faced the difficulties and deprivations of Nazi POW camps with the […]