Inductees in Military

Captain William Henry Allen (1784-1813)
Inducted in 2013

Allen, William Henry, 1784-1813

Far less known than Rhode Island’s Oliver Hazard Perry, the hero of the September 1813 Battle of Lake Erie, Captain William Henry Allen was no less daring and courageous. He was born in Providence on October 21, 1784, the son of Sarah Jones, sister of Governor William Jones, and Major William Allen of Providence, a distinguished Revolutionary War soldier, later a brigadier general of militia and sheriff of Providence County.

Little is known of Captain Allen’s education, but his surviving journals and letters show a skilled penman and artist whose sketches in his writings were well executed. Allen wanted a naval career, so his influential parents, despite serious misgivings, prevailed upon U. Read more >
Frank H. Alston, Jr. (1914-1978)
Inducted in 1979

Frank H. Alston, of Providence, 1914-1978, was a designer for the Institute of Heraldry, Department of the Army. He designed many distinctive insignia, flags, badges, and medals for all branches of the U.S. Read more >
George Bancroft (1800-1891)
Inducted in 1984

George Bancroft, 1800-1891, was an American historian and Statesman who became a citizen of Newport with his home the famed "Rosecliff" mansion, named after the American Beauty Rose that he and a colleague developed. Over forty years, he wrote nine volumes of The History of the United States, and was credited with the existence of the U.S. Naval Academy during his terms Secretary of the Navy. Read more >
Maj. Gen. Harold R. Barker (1891-1965)
Inducted in 1989

The late Major General Harold R. Barker whose distinguished thirty-three year military career that spanned service under the famed General John Pershing in the battle with Mexican Revolutionary leader Poncho Villa, and through both World Wars. A native Rhode Islander who settled in Pascoag during his retirement years, he was a highly decorated U.S. Read more >
William Barton (1748-1831)
Inducted in 1999

William Barton, 1748-1831, of Warren and Providence, was a colonel in the Revolutionary army whose most notable exploit was to lead a daring raid in July, 1777 to seize General Richard Prescott, commander of the British forces occupying Aquidneck Island. In 1790 as a staunch Federalist, Barton served as a prominent delegate to the convention that ratified the federal Constitution. Read more >
Dr. Robert D Billington
Inducted in 2017

Growing up, he just wanted to become a drummer. However, a new journey to reclaim a post-industrial valley, reveal its history, clean up its river, and build an understanding of events that changed the course of America was about to unfold. Bob built an organization and organized communities to bring back the Blackstone Valley from years of disinvestment. His mission; to create an epic vision for the Valley, took more than three decades to achieve. Read more >
Major General George Newman Bliss (1837-1928)
Inducted in 2003

Bliss, George Newman, 1837-1928

George Newman Bliss was born in Tiverton, Rhode Island on July 22, 1837, the son of James and Sarah (Stafford) Bliss. He attended Brown University, secured a bachelor's degree from Union College, and earned a law degree from Albany Law School in 1861. Enlisting in the Civil War as a private, he rose to the rank of major in the 1st Rhode Island Cavalry serving with valor and resourcefulness in numerous engagements in the Virginia theater of war. At Waynesboro, Virginia on September 18, 1864, he displayed such heroic action as to merit the Congressional Medal of Honor. Read more >
Major General Zenas Randall Bliss (1835-1900)
Inducted in 2009

Major General Zenas Randall Bliss was born in the Johnston village of Simmonsville on April 17, 1835. He passed a comfortable youth in a middle class family until he won a direct appointment to the United States Military Academy in 1850, at the age of fifteen. At West Point Bliss graduated near the bottom of the class of 1854 and was immediately dispatched to Texas to serve with the Eighth United States Infantry.

Promotion to first lieutenant came in 1860, as Bliss continued with his peacetime duties of policing the frontier. Read more >
General John Bruce Blount (1928-)
Inducted in 1984

General John Bruce Blount was a career U.S. Army Officer who, according to available records, was the only native-born, three-star general in Rhode Island history. Known by his middle name, Bruce, he was raised in Kingston, RI, and was a 1950 graduate of RI State College (now URI), where he excelled in both baseball and basketball, and was ROTC Cadetted Colonel. Read more >
Vice Admiral Harold G. Bowen, USN (1883-1965)
Inducted in 1992

The late Vice Admiral Harold G. Bowen, USN was Providence native and a graduate of the United States Naval Academy (class of 1905) and commissioned in 1907. He was a pioneer in research in the development of radar, jet propulsion rockets and numerous techniques which were directly under the supervision of the Secretary of the Navy, due to the secret nature, recipient of many awards such as the Distinguished Service Medal, Victory Medal with Silver Star and Newcomen Medal. Read more >
John Nicholas Brown (1900-1979)
Inducted in 1975

John Nicholas Brown, 1900-1979, was a former assistant Secretary of the Navy for Air, senior fellow at Brown University and a director of the Smithsonian Institution. He directed the search and recovery of the works of art stolen by the Nazis for which he was decorated by the French and Belgian governments. Read more >
Carlton C Brownell (1917-2013)
Inducted in 2017

Most inductees to the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame are chosen because of their impact upon their state, or even the nation. Some, however, have such a pervasive and beneficial impact on their community or region that their life and work demand induction. Carlton Brownell is such a person. His impact upon Little Compton and “Scunnet” generally, has been enormous. Read more >
George Bucklin (1843-1918)
Inducted in 1981

George N. Bucklin, 1843-1918, was a great benefactor to the Boy Scouts of RI, enabling the development of Camp Yawgoog and the famed Bucklin Memorials, one of the great camping showplaces of the country. Read more >
Eugene J. Buonaccorsi
Inducted in 1986

Eugene Buonaccorsi was sports editor of the Providence Journal-Bulletin, spending forty-six years in sports journalism. He began his career as a Journal schoolboy reporter and copy editor, and was named assistant sports editor in 1946, after serving as a U.S. Army Airborne test glider Captain in WWII. Read more >
Major General Ambrose Everett Burnside (1824-1881)
Inducted in 2003

Burnside, Ambrose Everett, 1824-1881

Ambrose Everett Burnside was born in Liberty, Indiana on May 23, 1824, one of nine children of Irish and Scottish ancestry born to Edghill and Pamela (Brown) Burnside. His father had been a South Carolina slaveholder who moved to Indiana after freeing his slaves. Edghill Burnside became a legislator in his adopted state--a position that enabled him to secure a West Point scholarship for his son Ambrose. After graduation in 1847, young Lieutenant Burnside was assigned to an artillery unit but arrived in Mexico City too late to see actual combat in the short-lived Mexican War. Read more >
Colonel Gonzalo Edward "Ned" Buxton, Jr. (1880-1949)
Inducted in 2014

Gonzalo Edward “Ned” Buxton Jr. (1880-1949) was born in Kansas City, Mo., to Dr. G. Read more >
Dr. Joseph E. Cannon (1911-1989)
Inducted in 2010

Joseph Cannon was born in Providence in 1911, the son of General Francis Cannon and Mary (Milligan) Cannon. He attended Technical High School and graduated from Brown University in 1932. He chose a career in medicine, and in 1936 he earned his degree cum laude from Tufts Medical School. Dr. Read more >
Walter E. "Ted" Carter
Inducted in 2015

Burrillville native Vice Admiral Walter E. "Ted' Carter, Superintendent of the US Naval Academy, is one of the living giants of Naval aviation history.
Carter flew 125 combat missions in Bosnia, Kosovo, Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan. Since earning his Naval Flight Officer wings in 1982, Admiral Carter, a record-setting "Top Gun" aviator, has made 2,016 "traps", or arrested landings on aircraft carriers–more than any other Naval aviator in history. Read more >
Reginald A. Centracchio
Inducted in 2003

Reginald A. Centracchio was born in West Warwick. He enlisted in the R.I. Read more >
Colonel Everitte St. John Chafee (1880-1971)
Inducted in 2014

Col. Everitte St. John Chaffee, 1880-1971, World War I military commander and Harvard-educated lawyer, appointed in 1925 as the first superintendent of the state police.