Pentagon restores a few webpages honoring servicemembers but still defends DEI purge

The Pentagon said Monday that internet pages honoring a Black Medal of Honor winner and Japanese American service members were mistakenly taken down — but staunchly defended its overall campaign to strip out content singling out the contributions by women and minority groups, which the Trump administration considers “DEI.” A Defense Department webpage honoring Black Medal of Honor recipient Army Maj. Gen. Charles Calvin Rogers was taken down last week. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and President Donald Trump have already removed the only female four-star officer on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Navy Adm. Lisa Franchetti, and removed its Black Chairman, Gen. CQ Brown Jr. “The full throttled attack on Black leadership, dismantling of civil rights protections, imposition of unjust anti-DEI regulations, and unprecedented historical erasure across the Department of Defense is a clear sign of a new Jim Crow being propagated by our Commander in Chief,” said Richard Brookshire, co-CEO of the Black Veterans Project, a nonprofit advocating for the elimination of racial inequities among uniformed service members. Democrat Hawaii Rep. Ed Case wrote Friday in a letter asking for the pages to be restored that “it is clear that the Army is intentionally removing these websites based solely on race without any consideration of or respect for historical context.” The Japanese American Citizens League also denounced the decision, calling it “an attempt to erase the legacy of thousands of soldiers who gave everything for a country that doubted them.” Bill Wright, whose father was an officer in the 442nd, said the page’s removal is just one example of what’s happening across Department of Defense websites reflective of current politics. Mark Matsunaga, a former Honolulu journalist whose Japanese American father and uncles served in World War II, said he was grateful to see the 442nd’s webpage restored, but that “one act doesn’t solve the larger problem.” “They’re still eliminating all kinds of content — photos, articles, social media posts — that all help Americans to understand how diverse their military is,” he said.