The Enola Gay Runs Afoul of Pentagon's DEI Purge

A Pentagon purge of DEI content appears to have mistakenly flagged references to the Enola Gay aircraft that dropped an atomic bomb on Japan because of the word "gay." Also among the tens of thousands of photos and online posts marked for deletion are references to a World War II Medal of Honor recipient and the first women to pass Marine infantry training, according to a database obtained by the AP. The database, which was confirmed by US officials, includes more than 26,000 images that have been flagged for removal across every military branch as part of a purge of diversity, equity, and inclusion content. The final total may end up being higher. Details:

• In some cases, photos seemed to be flagged for removal simply because their file included the word "gay," including service members with that last name and an image of the B-29 aircraft Enola Gay, which dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan.
• A photo of Army Corps biologists was on the list, seemingly because it mentioned they were recording data about fish—including weight, size, hatchery, and gender.
• Some photos of the Tuskegee Airmen were listed in the database, but those may likely be protected due to historical content.
• Other photos flagged in the database but still visible included images of the World War II Women Air Service Pilots and one of Air Force Col. Jeannie Leavitt, the country's first female fighter pilot. Also still visible was an image of then-Pfc. Christina Fuentes Montenegro becoming one of the first three women to graduate from the Marine Corps' Infantry Training Battalion and an image of Marine Corps World War II Medal of Honor recipient Pfc. Harold Gonsalves.

• Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had given the military until Wednesday to remove content that highlights diversity efforts following President Trump's executive order ending those programs.
• "We are pleased by the rapid compliance across the Department with the directive removing DEI content," said a Pentagon spokesman. "In the rare cases that content is removed that is out of the clearly outlined scope of the directive, we instruct components accordingly." He noted that Hegseth has declared "DEI is dead." More here.

(More Enola Gay stories.)