Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Basil was the eighth of ten children of William John Hardy (born 1851 in London, England) and Sarah Jane Rudge (born 1855 in London, England). William - an Artist and Engraver - married Sarah - a Nursery Governess in London in 1877 and they lived and worked in London before immigrating in 1893 to Fremantle in Western Australia, where William continued working as an Artist and Engraver.

Basil was two years of age when he arrived in Fremantle, WA with his family. He was working as a Clerk at Leederville in Perth WA when he enlisted with the AIF in July 1915 as a Private (Service No:2669A). Basil was with the 51st Infantry Battalion in France when he was WIA and captured by the Germans. In 1918 he records his experience in 'Statement made by repatriated PoW' (AIF) - Pte Hardy BJ 2669A 51 Battalion D Coy 14 Platoon, Captured 5 September 1916 at Mouquet Farm near Pozieres: "We moved against Mouquet Farm just before daybreak on September 3, 1916. It was a Brigade advance and our objective was Mouquet Farm and some strongposts to the left between Thiepal and the Farm ..... We were to dig in at Mouquet Farm in front of the trneches the Germans had abandoned ..... About 3 hours after daylight the enemy counter-attacked and they were very soon all round us. An order came down te line that the Lewis Gun was out of action and that bombers were needed on the right and on the left .... I followed Taylor towards our own lines .... I had only gone about 10 yards when I received a bullet in the back. I went down to it and lay paralysed for about 4 hours .... As soon as I could move I realised that 'Jerry' had the trench. Two of the Germans motioned me into the trench, one offering coffee and the other making threatening gestures at me with his fists .... One of the German soldiers immediately bandaged my wounds, using my own field dressing. Five minutes afterwards he was killed by one of our shells .... The other German ran off .... I got out of the trench into 'No Man's Land', trying to get back to our own lines but I had lost all sense of location ... I was hit by shrapnel in the left thigh and in the right heel. On about the third morning I found myself in a shell hole and unable to move .... the Germans found me .... two German soldiers dragged me for about 3 kilometers across No Man's Land one hanging on to each of my wrists .... I was transferred to Caudry, where I was operated upon immediately. Meantime the flies had badly polluted my wounds ... Frank Johnson of the 51st Battalion, who had lost both his legs, died in the bed next to me. Private Morton had an arm amputated .... Private Robertson had an arm later amputated at Gottingen ..... I remained at Gottingen until May 4, 1917, I was in the Lazarette where I found treatment fair but the food wretched .... From Gottingen I was transferred to Largensalza ..... I was for four months out on 'commando'. Basil's brothers - Leo (Service No:4030) and Philip (Service No:4344) and Brother-in-Law Herbert Rigg (Service No:15977) served in WWI, and nephew Joseph Basil Hardy (Service Nos:WX27095/W80330) served in WWII.

Returning to Australia, Basil settled in Melbourne, Victoria and was working as a Tram Conductor in 1921 when he married Rosalind Mary Ahearn (born 1892 at Coburg in Victoria), Rosalind was living at at St Kilda and working as a Saleswoman. They settled at Elsternwick, and Basil worked for the Tramways until his Death in 1959. Rosalind died in 1972