On November 1, 1937, Robert enlisted in the Wisconsin National Guard's 32nd Divisional Tank Company headquartered in Janesville.  After high school, he worked for the Janesville Gazette and became the circulation manager.

    Robert was called to federal duty on November 25, 1940 and sent to Fort Knox, Kentucky to train.  It was there that his company became A Company, 192nd Tank Battalion.  While he was at Fort Knox, he was promoted to master sergeant and transferred from Company A to Headquarters Company when it was created in January, 1941.  In his new company, he was given the job of battalion clerk

    Robert next took part in maneuvers in Louisiana and then was sent to Camp Polk.  At Camp Polk, he was informed that the 192nd Tank Battalion was being sent overseas for further training.  He received a leave home to take care of any unfinished business and to say his goodbyes

    Robert and the other members of the 192nd Tank Battalion arrived in the Philippine Islands on Thanksgiving Day, 1941.  About two weeks later, he lived through the Japanese attack on Clark Field.  For the next four months, Robert took part in the Filipino and American effort to slow the Japanese advance as the Allied forces withdrew into the Bataan Peninsula.  

    On April 9, 1942, Robert became a Prisoner of War when the Filipino and American Forces on Bataan were surrendered to the Japanese.  After receiving news of the surrender, Robert and his company remained in their camp for two days.  Japanese soldiers arrived and told them to go t the road that ran near their encampment.  The Prisoners of War were made to kneel along the sides of the road.  As they knelt, Japanese soldiers passing them took whatever they wanted from the Americans.

    The POWs boarded trucks and road to Mariveles.  Outside of the barrio, they were herded into a field an told to sit.  They remained there for hours.  When they received orders to move, they were moved to another open field in front of a school.  They were again told to sit and wait.  Behind them were artillery pieces.  The guns opened up on Corregidor.  Within a few minutes, Corregidor began to return fire.  

    Shells from Corregidor began landing among the POWs.  Robert and the men attempted to find cover.  There was a liitle shed that some POWs hid in. The shed was hit by a shell.  When the shelling stopped, all but one of the Japanese artillery pieces had been destroyed.

    Not too long after this, Robert was ordered to move again,  He had no idea that this time he had started what became known as the Death March.  He and the other men made their way to San Fernando.  They were packed into small boxcars used to haul sugarcane.  At Capas, they disembarked and made their way to Camp O'Donnell.  The conditions in this unfinished Filipino Army base were so bad that the POWs volunteered to go out on work details to escape them.

    Robert went out on a work detail to Clark Field.  There, he and the other POWs worked to enlarge the airfield.  While on this detail, he became ill and was sent to Cabanatuan. It was there that Sgt. Robert G. Havens died of beriberi on November 23, 1942.

    Robert's one prized possession he had with him when he died was a prayer book.  He asked his friend Phil Parish to give the book to his family when Phil returned home.  Phil kept his promise and gave the book to Robert's parents after the war.

    Since M/Sgt. Robert G. Havens's final resting place is unknown.  After he died, he was buried in a mass grave with eight other POWs who died on the same date.  He is buried in a grave marked "unknown" at the American Military Cemetery outside Manila.  Since his remains were never identified, his name appears on The Tablets of the Missing  at the cemetery.

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