WASHINGTON (AP) โ References to a World War II Medal of Honor recipient, the Enola Gay aircraft that dropped an atomic bomb on Japan and the first women to pass Marine infantry training are among the tens of thousands of photos and online posts marked for deletion as the Defense Department works to purge diversity, equity and inclusion content, according to a database obtained by The Associated Press. The database, which was confirmed by U.S. officials and published by AP, includes more than 26,000 images that have been flagged for removal across every military branch. But the eventual total could be much higher.
One official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details that have not been made public, said the purge could delete as many as 100,000 images or posts in total, when considering social media pages and other websites that are also being culled for DEI content. The official said itโs not clear if the database has been finalized.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had given the military until Wednesday to remove content that highlights diversity efforts in its ranks following President Donald Trumpโs executive order ending those programs across the federal government. The vast majority of the Pentagon purge targets women and minorities, including notable milestones made in the military. And it also removes a large number of posts that mention various commemorative months โ such as those for Black and Hispanic people and women. But a review of the database also underscores the confusion that has swirled among agencies about what to remove following Trumpโs order.
In some cases, photos seemed to be flagged for removal simply because their file included the word โgay,โ including service members with that last name and an image of the B-29 aircraft Enola Gay, which dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, during World War II. Several photos of an Army Corps of Engineers dredging project in California were marked for deletion, apparently because a local engineer in the photo had the last name Gay. And a photo of Army Corps biologists was on the list, seemingly because it mentioned they were recording data about fish โ including their weight, size, hatchery and gender.
In addition, some photos of the Tuskegee Airmen, the nationโsย first Black military pilots who served in a segregated WWII unit, were listed on the database, but those may likely be protected due to historical content. The Air Force briefly removed new recruit training courses that included videos of the Tuskegee Airmen soon afterย Trumpโs order. That drew the White Houseโs ire over โmalicious compliance,โ and the Air Force quickly reversed the removal.
Many of the images listed in the database already have been removed. Others were still visible Thursday, and itโs not clear if they will be taken down at some point or be allowed to stay, including images with historical significance such as those of the Tuskegee Airmen.
Asked about the database, Pentagon spokesman John Ullyot said in a statement, โWe are pleased by the rapid compliance across the Department with the directive removing DEI content from all platforms. In the rare cases that content is removed that is out of the clearly outlined scope of the directive, we instruct components accordingly.โ He noted that Hegseth has declared that โDEI is deadโ and that efforts to put one group ahead of another through DEI programs erodes camaraderie and threatens mission execution.
Comment: Yes, DEI is dead and will soon be forgotten, just like Yehzov. Surely the innocent victims of this anti-DEI exuberance, like the Enola Gay or the Tuskegee Airmen will soon be given justice. That’s just crazy, but it does show the extent of the fear being instilled across the DoD and elsewhere in our government. Lord help you if you do not cheer enthusiastically enough for the new order. You might end up like Yehzov.
TTG
“He was a Minnesota native, a pilot who escorted bombers in World War II, and a member of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first Black military pilots.
When asked why he wanted to serve, even though he was treated as a second-class citizen, he said he wanted to be very direct.
“This is my country, too,” said Brown, who died in 2023. ”
https://www.kare11.com/article/news/history/thousands-pictures-including-first-black-military-pilots-flagged-removal/89-c25830c3-6517-49fc-ad84-4ee6878ba135
al,
In 2020 Trump promoted Tuskegee Airman Charles McGee to Brigadier. Pelosi ripped up his SOTU speech. Take your fake tears elsewhere.
TTG, Did you forget that too? How about Affirmative Action discrimination based on race? Escaped your notice during your decades of service in an elite organization that didn’t do that?
Fred,
And yet Hegseth is pushing a purge with such vigor that the Tuskegee Airmen get caught up in the net along with the Enola Gay. I’m sure they’ll catch and correct such absurdities, but the whole idea of disappearing history is both asinine and vile. It’s like the UDC trying to disappear the horrors of slavery in the US. It happened. Own it and move on. The same goes for past DEI events like Black history Month or Asian American – Pacific Islander Heritage Month. They happened. Own it and move on. Current policy is that those types of things and many others will not happen in the future. THat’s the way our world works.
Funny how Affirmative Action discrimination changes over time in the military. During jump school in 1973, the black hat instructors were heavily black. At the time the 82nd Airborne was also known as the African Airborne. My late 70s infantry and weapons platoons were majority Black and Hispanic. Flash forward to my days in the 10th SFG(A). The group was almost all white. My team had a black team sergeant for a while. As we planned our wartime mission in Poland, we all came to the conclusion that a black man in wartime Poland would jeopardize our mission. We briefed this to the Group Commander who could find no flaw in our reasoning or warplans. Teams in groups with missions in Sub-Saharan Africa are where a lot of black SFers are assigned, usually by pragmatic choice.
Fred, Pelosi just tore up her copy, as thousands of other copies of Trump’s speech surely floated around.
Perhaps as Speaker she could have stopped the BLABBER and called for all the copies to be handed into her for shredding.
You make some wild associations that must stretch your hat size as you start thinking of such.
al,
The copy of the speech was the official copy given to the Speaker, not personal copy. Pelosi simply showed her George Floyd values and her respect of General McGee and his accomplishments in the service and life in the Democratic Jim Crow South.
TTG,
Your ancestors neither created the USA nor ended slavery. Mine did. They reconciled decades ago with all affected parties. Save me the cultural marxist guilt trip.
Americans ended slavery, Jim Crow, and are now ending raced based divisiveness that Obama helped generate. “Own it and move on.”
Fred,
And none of those events should be erased from our history or whitewashed.
TTG,
Remind me again of Lithuania’s contributions to American freedom.
Fred,
Charles Bronson, born to a Lithuanian immigrant father of Lipka Tatar ancestry and a Lithuanian mother for one thing. In addition to his acting career, he served as a gunner on B-29s in the Pacific in WWII. He received a Purple Heart. He’s not alone.
Yes TTG, one man on a B-29. Who just happened to be born in Pennsylvania just like me.
Fred –
Tadeusz Koลciuszko! He was from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. He designed and was chief of construction for West Point. He and troops under his command were the rear guard in General Schuyler’s retreat from Ticonderoga. He delayed Burgoyne’s Army long enough for American victory at Saratoga. Later, he was General Nathaniel Greene’s chief engineer, where he he was in the lead and led Cornwallis on a merry chase of 200 miles from SC to the Dan River in Virginia. He participated in the Battles of Guilford Courthouse and 2nd Camden.
He’s a national hero in both the US and Lithuania. Kosciusko Island in Alaska, Kosciusko County in Indiana, and numerous cities, towns, streets and parks are named in his honor. There is a statue of him just across the street from the White House.
leith,
With all the time I spent walking, skiing and snowshoeing the Saratoga Battlefield, I’m surprised I didn’t immediately think of Koลciuszko. Thanks for reminding me.
leith,
hooray! A (singular) aristocrat. Did the rest if them send a couple of regiments along like the French? A fleet or two also? Or was that the 2nd war with the British? Did they join the Russian fleet at NYC to stop the Brits from intervening like your favorite puppeteer’s people starting touting on the net 3 years ago? (A fine twist giving the rebellion against both the Poles and the Russians, but who wants to talk about centuries of border wars in Eastern Europe, it would remind them that is exactly what is going on now.)
The AP is having an hysterical meltdown or just lying and making mountain out of mole hills (probably written by some DEI hire and woke activist). No one is erasing the Tuskegee airmen from history. Nor is anyone removing the Anola Gay from books or documentaries or anything else. That is all complete BS; hysterical BS.
I never realized just how susceptible you people are to ridiculous propaganda. I was going to write that it is concerning, but it’s downright frightening, actually.
The hysterics among us have apparently forgotten when Trump promoted a Tuskegee flyer to Brigadier General – https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/2074911/tuskegee-airman-receives-promotion-to-brigadier-general/
The big lie here is conflating all blacks with DEI, which is racist, which is what the left is because they can’t get past seeing people as categories, as opposed to individuals. The Tuskegee airmen were not DEI. They *earned* what they achieved the old fashioned way. DEI is handing positions to people who wouldn’t normally qualify, just because they are some special class identified by progressives as “oppressed”.
But yeah, trot out some anonymous sources who allegedly say scary stuff and then all the TDS dopes repeat it as truth because they’re so brainwashed they are predisposed to ingesting nonsense that confirms their masters’ world view.
Eric Newhill,
The article is based on the DoD directive to remove DEI material that is available online and the database of items to be removed which was also available. The instruction was poorly written and did not exclude historical material. You’re right. The Tuskegee Airmen were not DEI. Both the AP article and I pointed out the absurdity of having them considered for removal. Articles about how units celebrated Black History Month twenty years ago shouldn’t worry Hegseth or Trump, but the directive seems to want them removed. Talk about a derangement syndrome.
TTG,
Betcha 6 months from now anyone will be able to google or otherwise search up all kinds of images of the Enola Gay and Tuskegee Airnmen.
some folk can’t distinguish DEI from d, e & i.
d is a feature of America’s settlement, development & successful growth as a national culture. e is the shared ownership of & participation in our nation’s governance. i is the promise of fairness in determining our nation’s course. DEI is no more than a formal symbol of ideals & programs – now targeted by Nasty Krasnov to activate ethno-supremacist emotions for political gain. the meritocracy we are suddenly hearing so much about is another ideal, lacking currency in many spheres of American life – primarily due to the concentration of wealth & costs of access.
I have no idea why Trump, et al, think that renewing Stalinism is a good idea. Especially today, when information and images are readily available on the Internet. The Soviet Union succumbed in part due to emerging technology made it too hard to control content, as they had been doing. I think a whole lot of the Trump gang will end up as validations of the Peter Principle. The big question is how much damage they will be allowed to do?
Lars,
I think yours is a very good observation. As a current example the North Koreans, it has been reported, are wrestling with the fact that their days of controlling their people by controlling the information they receive are probably coming to an end. They should be terrified at the prospect. If you can’t control the information your people receive you can’t control the people.
It wasn’t conservative media receiving all of that USAID money, comrade.
If I might go off topic, Syrian civilians are seeking shelter from the ongoing ethnic cleansing campaign carried out by HTS-aligned gangs at the Russian Hmeimim Airbase:
https://x.com/DD_Geopolitics/status/1898197358971961717
Shawn Ryan on how he realized we are not the good guys anymore:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVrRuJPkiXE
James –
Ahmed al-Sharaa and the Syrian government should have stopped those attacks on Alawites. By the way al-Hamza and the Sultan Murad Division that carried out the attacks are NOT aligned with HTS. They are SNA, which is aligned with Turkey. No excuse for al-Sharaa, he should have known this could happen and should have taken steps to prevent it long ago.
leith –
That is interesting and good to know – thanks.
Leith,
“not aligned” nudge nudge, wink wink
Plausible deniability, cut outs, etc aren’t just CIA techniques.
Just an aside:
When I first saw that photo of Yezhov being edited out I actually wondered which was the edited photo for a moment. I knew Churchill had referred to Stalin as “that little bastard” in private letters. As Stalin’s height was somewhere between 5′-3″ and 5′-6″, the image of that guy beside him would’ve had to have been almost that of a midget. Turns out Yezhov indeed was an incredibly small little bastard.
From Wiki:
Yezhov was very short, standing 151 centimetres (4 ft 11+1โ2 in), and that, combined with his perceived sadistic personality, led to his nickname “The Poison Dwarf” or “The Bloody Dwarf”.
Mark,
Yep.I used to be surprised that they totally erased Yezhov b/c his presence in the photo made Stalin appear big. I thought they would have just replaced his face. Then again, maybe his diminutive stature was so distinctive that everyone would have known who’s body was in the photo and, thus, everyone would have been reminded that Yezhov once existed.