Correspondence, notes, a family history, and other genealogical materials of Col. David L. Hardee pertaining to the Hardee-Hardy families.
David Lyddall Hardee was born September 16, 1890, to Dr. Parrott Rastus Hardee and Roberta Buford Bacon Hardee in Granville County, North Carolina. After graduating from Trinity College in Durham, N.C., in 1913, he worked for Atlantic Coast Realty Company and Wachovia Bank and Trust Company before enlisting in the U.S. Army on January 29, 1918, joining Company H, 61st Infantry, and 5th Infantry Division during World War I. After the war's end, Hardee stayed in the Army, making it his career. He married Elizabeth Neely Harry on October 5, 1922, in Salisbury, N.C.
On November 1, 1941, Lieutenant Colonel Hardee sailed off to the Philippines to assist in training new Filipino divisions since he had previously served in the Philippines in 1929 through 1932. Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and invaded the Philippines shortly after his arrival. He fought with the Provisional Air Corps as executive officer to Col. Irvin E. Doane for which service he received many awards. Hardee was among the American armed forces at Bataan who were forced to surrender to the Japanese armed forces. He is best remembered as a survivor of the infamous Bataan Death March in the Philippines in World War II. During his military career, Hardee received numerous decorations for service and valor. These include the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star with three oak leaf clusters, the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, Combat Infantryman Badge, Presidential Unit Citation with two oak leaf cluster and many others. He was liberated on February 4, 1945, after 34 months of captivity.
He retired from the Army on December 31, 1949, and then organized the Hardee Concrete Company, served as Civil Defense director for Wake County and Raleigh, and served as national commander for the Army and Navy Legion of Valor. In 1966 he published The Eastern North Carolina Hardy-Hardee Family in the South and Southwest, and he died on November 23, 1969, in Raleigh, N.C. He is buried in New Maplewood Cemetery in Durham, N.C.
Source: https://www.ncdcr.gov/blog/2018/10/09/brief-biography-col-david-l-hardee
This collection contains a detailed record of the Hardee/Hardy family, compiled by David L Hardee, who primarily resided in the south and southwest regions of the United States. The Hardee family originated in Wales and England then migrated to American during the Colonial Period. The family in North Carolina extended from Chowan to New Bern by 1685. The Hardee/Hardy family became very prominent during, before, and throughout The Revolutionary War. The family was noted for its energy, industry, patience, resourcefulness, initiative, courage and leadership.
Gift of Mrs. Mary Hardee Stutz
Encoded by Apex Data Services. Processing by Faith Harris 2019.
Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law.
Contains invoice Offset Printing Company (1966) and "the Hardee family in the South and Southwest history" loose-leaf book (1966)