More detail on this person: Pat flew with the
USAF 20th SOS (call sign: Green Hornet) in 1967
(not 1969). Pat was flying the "F" model Huey out
of FOB 2, Kontum and we (117th Guns -
Sidewinders) were flying support for the 20th
while working on the 5th SF mission.
Captain Patrick C. Hardee (AFSN: FR-78689),
United States Air Force, was awarded the
Distinguished Flying Cross for heroism while
participating in aerial flight while serving with
the 20th Helicopter Squadron in Southeast Asia on
13 October 1967.
General Orders: Headquarters, 7th Air Force,
Special Order G-604 (February 24, 1968)
Action Date: October 13, 1967
Service: Air Force
Rank: Captain
Company: 20th Helicopter Squadron
Captain Patrick C. Hardee, United States Air Force
Academy Class of 1964, died of cancer in Aurora,
CO on January 3, 1987.
Pat Hardee lost a long and difficult battle with
cancer. Over a five-year period, Pat endured
repeated radiation and chemotherapy treatments,
almost constant pain, and the fear felt by all of
us of leaving our families before our time. At the
same time he maintained total involvement with his
family, a full-time engineering position with the
Martin Marietta Corporation, and a leadership role
in his church, The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints.
Pat was born Christmas 1941 in Long Beach, CA,
spent his early years at Fort Benning, GA and the
Panama Canal Zone, and attended high school in
Denver, CO. He studied at Brigham Young
University for one year before entering the
Academy and joined the Class of 1964 prepared to
change the world. Like a lot of the Blue Tags of
that era, Pat was hard working and hard headed,
sensible and cynical, and unafraid to challenge
authority or the unknown. Unlike those of us who
wanted only to learn the required amount and get
on with flying, Pat was a superior student who did
original research at the Academy, with the sincere
belief that he could understand and explain things
that were yet unsolved. As an athlete, he was a
national caliber gymnast in both trampoline and
high bar despite a decidedly ungymnastic 6'4"
frame, and was ranked 14 in the nation in 1963.
Even his doolie stunts were bigger than life
including blind leaps to Vandenberg Hall roofs to
rappel into upperclass rooms, leaving Bill Garrett
dangling on a rope from the sixth floor wall of
Fairchild Hall while getting help to pull him up.
After graduation in 1964, Pat married Judy Dawn
Allen of Springville, UT and drove south to get
his wings at Randolph AFB, TX. From there he
chose helicopters and received the Commander's
Trophy for finishing first in his class at Stead
AFB, NV. After a tour at Warren AFB, WY he went
to Vietnam in helicopter gunships, where he
received numerous decorations including two
Distinguished Flying Crosses in almost constant
combat operations. My strongest recollection of
Pat in the war was both more, and less, heroic: an
evening in Nha Trang taking a group of Vietnamese
street children to a church party to give them
some fun and a look at a different side of
Americans.
He completed a final tour at Grand Forks AFB, ND
in 1969, and left the Air Force to attend graduate
school at Denver University. There Pat received
master's degrees in mechanical engineering and
electrical engineering in 1971 and 1972, and a
doctorate in electrical engineering in 1975.
Intent upon making it on his own, Pat spent
several years with partners doing original
research and development in microwave radiometry,
voice stress analysis, and received two U.S.
patents under the name of Hardee Engineering. In
1981 he joined Martin Marietta Corporation in
Denver as an electrical engineer developing
products in microwave spectroscopy, photovoltaic
power, and microwave communications.
After being diagnosed with cancer in 1982, Pat
continued working full time and doing everything
possible to provide future security for Judy and
his children.
Pat was survived by Judy; his children Amber,
Mary, Eileen, Cheryl, Jennifer, David, Camille,
and Gail; his parents Mary and Clell, his sister
Cathy, and his brother Jim. His family has lost
one of their own; one who can never be replaced.
His friends have lost a restless, creative
individual, who dreamed great dreams, accepted no
limits, and fought longer than anyone thought
possible. We shall miss him.
From: Frank Wilson, '64, Gone But Not Forgotten,
Checkpoints, Winter 1986
This information was last updated 05/18/2016
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Date posted on this site: 03/10/2024
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