James H. Chute (1918-1993), a Pawtucket native, was an 8th Air Force B-17 bomber pilot who earned the Distinguished Flying Cross over Germany. After completing his 35 combat missions in January, 1945, he went to the Pacific Division of Air Transport Command, flying C-54 transports. At the end of the war he participated in Southwest Pacific Wing Project No. 75, a mission that consisted of flying occupation forces from Okinawa to Japan, and evacuating freed POWs on the return flights.

James “Jim” Chute, a 1936 graduate of St. Raphael Academy, attended Providence College. He and his wife Katherine owned and operated the Highland Cottage Dairy until 1965. In 1971, he purchased a Dunkin’ Donuts franchise at the entrance to the old Narragansett Racetrack. He was one of the first Dunkin’ Donuts operators in Rhode Island, developing two additional locations in Pawtucket and serving on numerous advisory councils and committees within the Dunkin’ Donuts franchise system.