John Edward Havey was born on November 26, 1916 on the farm of his grandfather, about three miles southwest of the town of Rockville. After graduation at Rockville he moved to Indianapolis and worked as an internal grinder operator for the Link Belt Company at Indianapolis, Indiana. He joined the AFER (Air Force Enlisted Reserve) as a Pvt. on November 5, 1942. I do not know exactly when he went on active duty but he was accepted as an AF Cadet and graduated as a Second Lieutenant with the Class of 44-D at Moore Field, Mission Texas. Class 44-D was a class training to be fighter pilots. Later he was sent to England and after completing aerial combat training became a member of the 375th FS 361st FG Eighth Air Force. He flew his first mission in November 1944 and his last on April 14, 1945. Most if not all of his missions were flying P-51s in escort of heavy bombers to or back from their targets. While engaged in the groups efforts he was awarded the Air Medal with four Oak Leaf Clusters.
After war's end in Europe he volunteered to stay and train for the groups mission in the Pacific theater as the war against Japan persisted. On July 23, 1945 1st Lt. Havey was in a flight of four P-51s attempting a new type of high altitude dive bombing for this mission. A disaster occurred when his aircraft broke up in mid air during an unsuccessful dive recovery attempt and he died upon impact.