Pentagon Wipes Records of Famed WWII Plane 'Enola Gay,' Named After the Pilot's Mom, Because 'DEI Is Dead'

Mar. 15, 2025

The crew of the Enola Gay in April 1946.Photo:Art Edger/NY Daily News Archive via Getty

Art Edger/NY Daily News Archive via Getty

A Defense Department purge of content promoting diversity, equity and inclusion has caused tens of thousands of records to be flagged for deletion — many of which have nothing to do with DEI, like a photo of the famous WWII aircraft named “Enola Gay.”

The Associated Presshas compiled an archive of the images flagged for removal, and several of the links already lead to dead pages.

The Tuskegee Airmen, the United States' first Black military pilots, are photographed in 1944.Afro American Newspapers/Gado/Getty

Afro American Newspapers/Gado/Getty

Some of the historic content flagged for removal could have been predicted, fitting into the Trump administration’s increasingly broad definition of DEI. Those included images of the legendary Tuskegee airmen, female Marines and events honoring Asian and Pacific Islander contributions to the military.

But some targeted records came as a surprise, raising questions about the federal government’s new DEI standards and quality control.

One of the unexpected images flagged for removal is of a prominent WWII bomber aircraft called the Enola Gay, presumably because the name “Gay” was visible in the photos.

The Enola Gay notably became the first-ever aircraft to drop an atomic bomb amid war, when it released the U.S.-made explosive that destroyed Hiroshima, Japan, in August 1945.

The plane was named after Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of the plane’s pilot, Col. Paul Tibbets.

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Additional “gay” imagery flagged included service members who have the last name Gay, with the name visible on their uniform.

Another puzzling decision was the flag to remove a photo of Army Corps biologists recording information about fish. The caption of the image mentioned they were collecting data that included weight, size, hatchery and gender.

A female Marine hiking with the first gender-integrated training class in April 2021.PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty

PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty

“In the rare cases that content is removed that is out of the clearly outlined scope of the directive, we instruct components accordingly," he added, according to AP.

Justifying the Pentagon’s actions, Ullyot pointed to Secretary Hegseth’s previous declaration that “DEI is dead.”

Hegsethreleased a memoon Jan. 29 stating that efforts aimed at diversity, equity and inclusion were “incompatible with the values” of the Defense Department.

“The DoD will strive to provide merit-based, color-blind, equal opportunities to Service members but will not guarantee or strive for equal outcomes,” Hegseth added.

source: people.com