Navajo Code Talkers Removed From DOD Websites

At least 10 articles about the Navajo code talkers, enlisted by the Marine Corps to help with operations in World War II, have been removed from Department of Defense websites over President Donald Trump's executive order ending diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, Axios reported Monday.

The broken URLs are now labeled "DEI," according to the report.

"As Secretary [Pete] Hegseth has said, DEI is dead at the Defense Department," Pentagon press secretary John Ullyot told Axios in a statement.

According to a WWII fact sheet still in place on the Navy website: "The Navajo code talkers took part in every assault the U.S. Marines conducted in the Pacific from 1942 to 1945. They served in all six Marine divisions, Marine Raider battalions and Marine parachute units, transmitting messages by telephone and radio in their native language a code that the Japanese never broke."

According to the Axios report, Meskwaki code talkers were sent to North Africa after 16% of the tribe's population in Iowa enlisted during WWII. However, "Meskwaki" no longer appeared on the DOD's website.

Some pages that were removed under the DEI directive have been restored, according to the report. The Army restored a page about the Japanese-American 442nd Infantry Regiment on Saturday, and "DEI" was removed from the URL of a profile on Army Major Gen. Charles Rogers, a Black recipient of the Medal of Honor, Axios reported.

"In the rare cases that content is removed that is out of the clearly outlined scope of the directive, we instruct components accordingly," Ullyot added in the statement.

• Pentagon Orders DEI Purge From Social Media, Websites
• Defense Dept. DEI Imagery Purge Questioned