Henry Polichetti

BIOGRAPHY

Henry Polichetti was born in the neighborhood of Federal Hill in the city of Providence, Rhode Island, on 3 July 1915, to Italian immigrant parents. He was one of five siblings.

Henry completed basic training at the Newport Naval Training Station and was then assigned to the Naval Radio Operators School in Bedford Springs, Pennsylvania, where he served as an instructor. In December 1943, he was transferred to the Direction Finder School in Casco Bay, Maine. There, he taught the use of LORAN (Long Range Navigation) and radio direction-finding equipment. Radio operators were trained on the newly developed high-frequency (H/F) cathode ray direction finder, a device used to detect U-boats by intercepting their sighting and position reports.

Although Henry frequently boarded ships to calibrate equipment and participated in training exercises, he jokingly referred to himself as “the sailor who never went to sea.” When Germany surrendered in 1945 and anti-submarine warfare in the Atlantic ceased, he was transferred to another instructional role at the LORAN School at the Pacific Fleet Training Center in Pearl Harbor. After Japan’s surrender, Henry returned home to Rhode Island.

Upon returning, he married his longtime girlfriend Eleanor, whom he had met at age 16 through his sister. In 1946, they settled in Cranston, where Henry would spend most of his later years. The couple had two daughters, Eleanor and Barbara. Following his Navy career, Henry worked as the personnel director at Trifari Jewelry in East Providence.

Henry Polichetti passed away in Cranston, Rhode Island, on 14 August 2025, at the age of 110 years, 42 days.

RECOGNITION

His age was verified by Eli Logan, and validated by LongeviQuest on 8 July 2025.

ATTRIBUTION

* “107-year-old is oldest WWII vet in Cranston” – Warwick Beacon, 20 September 2022

* “BORN ON THE THIRD OF JULY” – Cranston Herald, 11 July 2024

* Henry L. Polichetti obituary – The Providence Journal

GALLERY

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