Benjamin Gower Hardy GC (1898 - 1944)

Ancestors

Cowra Breakout 1944

Biography

Benjamin Gower Hardy was born on 28th August 1898 in Marrickville, New South Wales (Australia). He was the son of Benjamin Gower Hardy and Emily Cole. ^[1]

During the First World War served in the Australian Army for three years within Australia.

The family later moved to Willoughby, on Sydney's North Shore; where Ben was living with his widowed Mum and his sister at the outbreak of the Second World War. Following the war he obtained employment as a driver with Dalgety's. He lost his father in 1924.

On 25th September 1941, as the threat of Japanese aggression in the Pacific was increasing, Ben was 'called up' for service in the Militia. Considered too old for active service he was posted firstly to 7th Garrison Battalion, where he became known as an expert on the Vickers machine gun, and then on 12th February 1944 to the 22nd Garrison Battalion, which was providing guard duties at No. 12 Prisoner-of-War Group, Cowra. ^[2] During the attempted breakout by some 1,000 Japanese POWs (not all the 1,104 incarcerated POWs participated) on the night of 5th August 1944, Ben was brutally killed by escapees whilst manning the second Vickers machine gun; the machine gun furthest from the soldiers' barracks and, therefore, essential support. As he was being clubbed and stabbed, he removed the feed block (not the firing bolt as is often errantly reported) and dropped it beside the gun thus denying the gun's use to the Japanese. ^[3] Together with his good mate Private Ralph Jones, Ben was posthumously awarded the George Cross (GC) for bravery and quick thinking during the breakout. ^[4] Benjamin Gower Hardy GC is buried in the Cowra War Cemetery, near to the scene of his death. His name is located at panel 77 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, and on the Cenotaph in Sydney. ^[5]

In the highly-fictionalised 1984 television mini-series, The Cowra Breakout, Ben was portrayed by well-known Australian actor, Max Cullen; although the character's name was changed to Private Hook.

Sunday Telegraph - Headlines reporting the mass breakout of Japanese POWs at Cowra.

Sources

1. ↑ New South Wales Birth Index #22953/1898
2. ↑ Department of Veterans' Affairs nominal roll: N103951 Private Benjamin Gower Hardy; accessed 16 Jan 2023
3. ↑ New South Wales Death Index #16295/1944
4. ↑ Australian War Memorial honours and awards: N103951 Private Benjamin Gower Hardy; accessed 29 Aug 2018
5. ↑ Australian War Memorial roll of honour: N103951 Private Benjamin Gower Hardy; accessed 29 Aug 2018

• Gordon, Harry. Hardy, Benjamin Gower (1898–1944). Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 1996; accessed online 29 Aug 2018.
• McLachlan, Mat. The Cowra Breakout. Hachette Australia, Sydney NSW, 2022. ISBN 978-0-7336-4762-8.
• Wikipedia: Ben Hardy GC.