Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

14/08/1914

Place of Enlistment

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

18/07/1894

Place of Birth

Glenelg, South Australia

Address (at enlistment)

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

Occupation

Soldier

Next of Kin

Son of Louis Hardy of Kadina, South Australia and husband of Lydia Hardy

Burial Place

Buried in Pozieres British Cemetery, Ovillers-la-Boiselle, France, grave 3.R.24.

Final Rank

Captain

Final Unit

8 Battalion AIF

Died (killed in action) near Pozieres, France on 18 August 1916 aged 21 years

AWM Roll of Honour Memorial Panel 53, Canberra ACT

According to the Roll of Honour circular, Hardy was closely associated with the Kadina district in South Australia and he had trained as a school teacher. He was part of the first intake of cadets at the Royal Military College, Duntroon on 22 June 1911 and would have been a member of the Honour Guard at the naming ceremony for Canberra on 12 March 1913. He was appointed a lieutenant on 14 August 1914 with the 8th Battalion and landed on Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. His platoon was the first ashore from the 8th Battalion and as he led his men around to the right flank of the fighting on that first day, Hardy was wounded in the right elbow.

Hardy rejoined his unit in early June 1915 with the rank of Captain and commanded D Company of the 8th Battalion. After the evacuation from Gallipoli, Hardy returned to Egypt and married a Russian woman, Lydia Kliaguina, at the Garrison Chapel at Abbassia on 18 January 1916. A few months later his unit and the rest of the 1st Division of the AIF were sent to the Western Front.

In July 1916 the 8th Battalion entered the Battle of the Somme at Pozieres and Hardy was commended by his commanding officer for his "splendid work". His C.O., Lieutenant Colonel J.M. Mitchell, later wrote that in the Second Battle of the Somme on 18 August 1916, Hardy was in "charge of the Company that was leading the attack on a very strong German position. The attack was met by an impassable belt of fire." Hardy led the charge and was twice repulsed. On the third attempt he was wounded and did not return. Sergeant D.W. Kennedy was a company runner and he found Hardy badly hit above the knee. He was carrying him back to the lines when a bomb burst behind them and wounded Hardy in the thigh. Kennedy went for help but it was last he saw of Hardy. He was buried in grave 3.R.24 at Pozieres British Cemetery, France.

AWM Roll of Honour Database
AWM Roll of Honour Circular
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)
AWM Collections Record C01197
The Duntroon Society, 'the First Class', Newsletter 2/2011
Stories from the ACT Memorial, 'The Honour Guard at the Canberra Commencement Ceremony', ACT Heritage Library www.library.act.gov.au/find/history/stories_from_the_act_memorial