Welcome home Sergeant Hardy

Came upon this obituary on the website of a funeral home that is back where I'm from originally.  I find this fascinating, on so many levels.

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Official Obituary of

David Eugene Hardy

November 1, 1928 ~ February 28, 1951 (age 22)

SGT David Eugene Hardy was born on Nov 1, 1928 and died on Feb 28, 1951 as a POW at Camp 5, Pyoktong, North Korea.  Under Operation Glory his remains were exchanged in 1954.  The Central Identification Unit at Kokura, Japan was unable to associate remains with Sargent Hardy and the remains were sent to Honolulu for burial as Unknown in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1956.  In 2019 his remains were disinterred and sent to Hickam AFB for analysis.  SGT David E. Hardy was ultimately identified on 27 September 2024.

David's father and mother were the late John and Mary Hardy.  David's brothers were the late James (died June 14, 1944 Normandy France), Willard, George and baby Hubert.  James, Willard and George all served during WWII.  David's sisters were the late Cleria, Lessie, Mary Sue (Sudy), and Bobbye.  David is survived by nieces, nephews and children of his cousins.  

Military Services for David will be held on March 8, 2025 at Citty Funeral Home, 308 Lindsey Street, Reidsville North Carolina.  Visitation will begin at 10:00 am and the service will begin at 11:00 am. The interment with full military honors will follow at Danview Cemetery in Eden, North Carolina.

Veterans who are able are welcome to attend the services.  We honor all veterans, first responders, and active military.  Thank you for your service.

The family would like to acknowledge the dedication of the United States Army Repatriation Division for their work to identify fallen soldiers and return them home to their families.  It is work of the highest calling.

In lieu of flowers, donations to Tunnels to Towers 2361 Hylan Boulevard Staten Island, NY 10306 in David's memory are appreciated.

Citty Funeral Home is assisting the Hardy family.

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Welcome home, David. It's been a long time, but now you can be at peace.

UPDATE: Television station WFMY in Greensboro, North Carolina has an in-depth story about David Hardy.  He was indeed from Reidsville.  The story goes into his army career, the circumstances of his being taken prisoner, and how he was identified by DNA.

I'm almost tempted to drive out to Reidsville for the service.  We aren't related so far as I know, but this is the kind of thing that merits paying respect.

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Good morning America and while you were sleeping...

You are waking up to something that most of us never, ever even dreamed we would be seeing.  That the flags of the United States and North Korea are being displayed with one another in an official capacity would drop jaws alone.

But then, this...

Two men who in the space of a few hours have accomplished more than their respective predecessors achieved in the previous seventy years combined.

The end of the Korean War is at last at hand.  Kim Jong Un has indicated he wants full stepdown of a nuclearized peninsula.  Time will tell what the full measure of that intent yields, of course.  But there really is a sense that the leader of North Korea is being genuine.  Maybe Kim has done something even more impossible than what we are seeing on the world stage.  Perhaps he is stepping out of the long shadow of his father and grandfather.

There is no avoiding the obvious fact that by all accounts Kim has been a brutal dictator over his people.  Even so, I have sometimes wondered if he was following the example set by his forefathers, without question.  Has he turned from their example?  'Twould be a path that very few men in places of absolute power have ever taken.  Could it be that we may have underestimated the character of Kim Jong Un?

Again, time will tell.

Then again, stranger things have happened already regarding this occasion of unprecedented history:

In what will surely go down as among the most surreal moments in the annals of global diplomacy, former NBA star Dennis Rodman broke down in tears during an interview on CNN and... seems like there really was a heart of gold behind his antics in Pyongyang these past few years.  Rodman was serious about opening up a dialogue between North Korea's leadership and the United States, apparently.  To hear Rodman tell it, his efforts were appreciated by Kim but when it came to presenting his labor to then-President Obama, he was rudely rebuffed.  Only now, with Donald Trump in the White House, has progress been made and by all appearances magnificently so.

Kim Jong Un is pledging to end his nuclear program, the Korean War is ending and Dennis Rodman is now more eligible for the Nobel Peace Prize than Obama ever was.  It's as if we're in the Matrix and it's been reprogrammed by Electronic Arts.

If you have small children, please be letting them watch this.  And explain to them what's going on.  One of the defining moments of my own life was the day that Reagan was shot.  I wanted to turn the channel and watch cartoons but Dad told me "No we need to watch this, son.  This is history.  You'll be reading about this in books someday.  This is something you can tell your own children about."

He was right.

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