Lt. Col. Bennett G. Hardy

Lt. Col. Bennett G. Hardy, age 82 of Willingboro, NJ, took his eternal rest on May 10, 2006.

He came to this life on August 6, 1921 in Kokomo Indiana (Howard County) to the late Joseph and Eula Hardy. He graduated from Kokomo High School in 1939 and upon graduation, worked in the Kokomo foundry during which time he tested for the Tuskegee Airman's program and was awaiting a reply when he was drafted in the Army due to WWII. He completed his Army training and was slated for overseas duty when he was pulled from his unit to begin training as a Tuskegee Airman. He went to Tuskegee, Alabama, where he graduated as a fighter pilot (2 LT) in the Army Air Corps. During his career of 29 years in the Air Force, he was stationed in Japan, Turkey, Vietnam and Scott AFB, McGuire AFB, while traveling with and raising a family of eight children. He retired from the Air Force and settled down in Willingboro, NJ in 1970. He then spent the next twenty years as a Cottage Tech at the ER Johnson Training and research center in Bordentown, NJ. Retiring from there in 1991 to relax and enjoy his retirement years.

He is survived by his wife, Betty of 62 years; a brother, Charles Hardy in MI; his surviving children, Patricia Enous of Atlanta, GA, Roderick Hardy of Willingboro, NJ, Wesley Hardy of Edgewater Park, NJ, Toni Tengelsen of Colorado Springs, CO, Thomas Hardy of Willingboro, NJ, Robert Hardy of Ofallon, IL, Eugene Hardy of Orlando, FL, Quinton Hardy of Willingboro, NJ; grandchildren, Darren Hardy, Erin and Carrie Tengelsen, Chavala and Jordan Hardy and Atira Enous.

Published in the Burlington County Times on 5/14/2006