The son of former slaves, Hardy was born in 1894 and lived a religious and farming life until he signed up to serve overseas in World War I in July 1918.

As an African American during the Jim Crow era, he served in the segregated 805th Pioneer Infantry, which was assigned a variety of manual labor and support tasks.

After the war, he took on a variety of jobs including school bus driver, farmer, deacon and cosmetics salesman, the latter of which he performed well past his 100th birthday.

The Hardy family was a deeply religious one, and Moses would later recount that Exodus 20:12, which instructed one to honor their parents,[1] was his favorite Bible passage and one which he lived by.

[5][8] He was interviewed by Treehouse Productions in 2006 as part of their Living History Project, a radio tribute to the last surviving World War I veterans that was hosted by Walter Cronkite.

[4][7][9] Hardy did not serve in World War II and instead drove a school bus, farmed and sold liniments and wigs for "Lucky Heart" cosmetics until his retirement.

He reportedly continued to go door-to-door for several years past his centenary, even resorting to phone sales when his children hid the keys of his 1972 Chevrolet Caprice.

Hardy's longevity was also credited to a daily meal that consisted of cabbage, corn bread, butter milk, potatoes and Dr Pepper, and the fact that he never drank alcohol or smoked in his life.

Although he suffered from mild dementia in his later years and had trouble speaking coherently, he was reported to have been completely lucid through his final days and his death was attributed to natural causes.