Jim & Jean Hardy had 73-years together. They died within two weeks of each other, leaving behind a legacy of love.
CORONADO – Following the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Lt. Jim “Andy” Hardy wrote his fiancé Norma Jean Walman in San Francisco and asked her to marry him as soon as possible. His seaplane squadron was about to deploy overseas to the Mediterranean.
She couldn’t get a military flight, but rode as the lone female passenger on a troop train across country, from the West Coast to Florida, where she and Jim were married during a black-out.
Their love affair continued for 73 years, when they peacefully passed away, but two weeks apart, ensuring that neither would ever be alone. Their love affair was nothing short of inspirational.
James Warren Hardy was born May 15, 1917 in Ontario, California. Norma Jean Walman was born June 28, 1923 in Pendleton, Oregon. Both were brought into a war-weary world, spending their early years living through the Prohibition years, the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression.
Jim completed Pomona Junior College, attended Stanford University and Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, before enlisting in the Navy in 1937. He flew PBY Catalina seaplanes – the most widely used seaplane during WWII (they were in service from the 1930s-1980s) as well as P2V antisubmarine reconnaissance aircraft.
He served as navigator on the aircraft carrier Tarawa in 1950, and flew R6-D transport aircraft in the late ‘50s. As much as he loved flying, Jim retired from the Navy in 1961 because of failing eyesight. In those days, pilots requiring corrective lenses were grounded. The Commander was not interested in advancing his career sitting behind a desk.
Growing up as a rambunctious cowgirl in a Finnish family from Pendleton, Jean Walman spent the start of the war working as a secretary to the Commander of the Presidio of San Francisco – then an active U.S. Army military installation crucial to the defense strategy of the West Coast.
But nothing could have prepared them for what happened Dec. 7, 1941. That morning, as a 24-year-old PBY pilot waited for the officers’ launch to carry him to squadron headquarters on Ford Island, across the channel from Honolulu, Jim Hardy heard aircraft overhead.
What happened next has been described thousands of times by those who were there. Japan attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, killing 2,402 Americans; damaging all eight U.S. battleships (four were sunk); and America was thrust into World War II in both the Pacific and Atlantic theaters.
Hardy survived that day, but many didn’t. His squadron of seaplanes was decimated by the aerial attack. “Our planes were shot so full of holes, there was no way we could fly them,” he recalled.
Jim walked away having learned much from that fateful day. “During the first attack, we were getting strafed by machine gun fire, and took a headfirst dive into a deep coral ditch,” he said. “There was a doctor in there with me, and he was scared to death. But once he saw our men bleeding on the ground, he got up and walked through that machine gun fire to help those wounded men.
“I learned something that day. I learned that when you don’t have a job or a purpose – you’re scared. When you have things to do there’s no time to be scared. That’s the most important lesson I’ve ever learned.”
Six months later, Hardy was ordered to report to a carrier group reforming at Kaneohe, but before he could get there more orders came in for him to join a new patrol squadron forming in Alameda.
That’s when he made the call to Jean to marry him. No sooner had they tied the knot did Jim receive orders for Iceland, England, and then Morocco. The German wolf pack was on the move.
Flying regular patrols over the Straits of Gibraltar at 50 feet was a typical day for Hardy and his squadron. They detected two subs and sank them. The British Commander-in-Chief credited them with clearing the Mediterranean Sea of German U-Boats.
“I wasn’t much for medals because that was the job we were hired to do, and expected to do,” said Hardy, ”but that recognition and the Distinguished Flying Cross were special honors, and we all shared in the glory. You see, our planes could spot U-Boats 200 feet under the water, and that made us a vital tool in clearing the shipping lanes and preventing Germany from re-supplying their war efforts in Italy and North Africa.”
Jim and Jean loved their Navy life, and were stationed in ports all over the continental United States, Hawaii, and Guam. They raised four children, and while Jim was off flying airplanes, Jean would drive back and forth across country in the family station wagon.
Jean was proud to be a Navy wife and mother to their children. And what a mother she was. She was a prankster extraordinaire, and her favorite holiday was April Fool’s Day – a day when her entire family would try to leave town for their own protection. She had a marvelous sense of humor and mischievous way that was not lost on her children.
Jim and Jean chose to retire in Coronado because it was such a wonderful place to raise a family. They were very active in the tennis community, played a mean game of bridge, and Jim’s group of golf buddies was legendary. Jean spent every Thursday pursuing the sport of “garage-sales,” dragging her daughters out of bed at the break of dawn to begin their epic hunt for second-hand treasure. Many of those “treasures” still populate their home.
Working in the civilian world, Jim served as bank manager for the Coronado branch of Security Pacific National Bank before retiring in 1973 to pursue his love of golf and tennis.
In his 96th year, Commander Jim Hardy was invited to fly a seaplane one final time. He joined his two daughters, Gail and Pattie, for the ride of their lifetime. Michael Steel, owner of San Diego Seaplanes, heard about Hardy and invited him to fly, to celebrate his birthday, and to honor this aging Pearl Harbor survivor and ex-seaplane pilot.
Three television news teams and the San Diego Union-Tribune covered the event. While Hardy didn’t handle the controls during take off and landing, he flew the seaplane as they winged their way over North Island Naval Air Station and the Coronado Bridge. When they landed in San Diego Bay, a large crowd of family, friends and media cheered.
Jim Hardy was program chairman (1970) for the Coronado Lions Club. He was also involved with the Navy League, Coronado Men’s Golf Club (he ran the Wednesday tournaments), and the Crown Club. His favorite charity was, as he put it, “My four kids.” But throughout their long lives, Jim and Jean supported numerous charities benefiting homeless women and children.
Over the last several years of their lives, Jim Hardy took loving care of his wife Jean. He always told his children he was committed to taking care of mom, because she took such good care of them for so long when he was away serving his country. “It’s my turn now,” he would fondly say. Theirs was a storybook romance from beginning to end.
Jim and Jean Hardy are survived by son Jim Hardy (Melissa) of Martinez, CA; son John Hardy (Debbi) of Olympia, WA; daughter Gail Young (Bob) of Santa Barbara; and daughter Pattie Weinberg (Jed) of Solana Beach.
Five grandchildren, Spencer Hardy, Erin and Jessica Hardy, Julia and Nolan Weinberg, and one great grandson, Hollin Hardy, also survive them. They were pre-deceased by grandson Brenden Hardy and Jim’s sister Mary Louise Waldrop.
A celebration of two lives well lived is planned for family and close friends. The family requests that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made “In Memory of Cmdr. and Mrs. James Hardy, USN (Ret), Pearl Harbor Survivor,” to the USS Arizona Memorial, 1 Arizona Memorial Pl, Honolulu, HI 96818, “Lest we forget.”
