Master Sergeant Hardy was a veteran of World War II. In Korea, he was a Light Weapons Infantry Leader with Company I, 3rd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division. He was taken Prisoner of War while fighting the enemy in South Korea on 12 July 1950, forced to march to North Korea on the "Tiger Death March", and died while a prisoner at An-Dong, North Korea on 11 May 1951. His remains were not recovered. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.

Hardy was awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Prisoner of War Medal, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation, the Republic of Korea War Service Medal and the World War II Victory Medal.