Lt. Col. George E. Hardy, the last surviving member of the reknowned Tuskegee Airmen, the first Black aviators of the U.S. Armed Forces, has passed away. He was 100 years old.
A spokesperson for Tuskegee Airmen, Inc., told NPR that Hardy’s legacy is one of “courage, resilience, tremendous skill and dogged perseverance against racism, prejudice and other evils.
“Colonel Hardy was an amazing man. He was a patriot. [Hardy] loved his family. He loved his community and our organization,” Leon Butler Jr., national president of Tuskegee Airmen, Inc., said. “He worked very hard and worked tirelessly to preserve the legacy. Not for himself, but for those that he served with, and he cared about the families of other original Tuskegee Airmen.”
Born on June 8, 1925 in Philadelphia, he joined the U.S. Army Air Corps at age 18. He began pilot training at the Tuskegee Army Air Field in December of that year. Hardy went on to graduate from pilot training in September 1944 at age 19 and was commissioned a second lieutenant.
During World War II, Hardy served in the 332nd Fighter Group at Ramitelli Air Base, Italy and assigned to the 99th Fighter Squadron. In Europe, he completed 21 missions and was the youngest Red Tail fighter pilot with the Tuskegee Airmen.
In an interview, Hardy recalled the segregated way of life in the military.
“We had our own club in Naples…so you didn’t go to the White club,” Hardy said. “That’s…the way life was.”
After the war, Hardy returned to the Tuskegee Army Air Field base as a supervising pilot until 1946 when it closed. He then retuned o Philadelphia before attending New York University. Hardy also married in 1947.
According to the U.S. Air Force, Hardy flew 45 combat missions in the Korean War and and 70 combat missions in the Vietnam War.
In 1971, Hardy retired from military service.
For his service, Hardy received numerous honors such as the Distinguished Flying Cross with Valor, a Commendation Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster and an Air Medal with 11 Oak Leaf Clusters. In 2007, he and other Tuskegee Airmen were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.