Images of "Enola Gay," the aircraft that dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima in Japan are among those targeted by the U.S. military in an initiative to eliminate content related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
They are among a number of photos unrelated to DEI that have been mistakenly flagged, including those from an Army Corps of Engineers dredging project in California, seemingly because an engineer in the image had the last name "Gay."
Why It Matters
The military is set to remove thousands of photos and online posts in the DEI purge following an executive order issued by President Donald Trump.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has defended the move, arguing that DEI initiatives undermine military cohesion and operational effectiveness.
What to Know
The executive order mandating the removal of DEI-related content required all military branches to review years of archived material, including website postings, photos, news articles and videos.
If the materials could not be reviewed by the deadline, they were to be "temporarily removed from public display" until further assessment.
A Marine Corps official stated that all flagged images within their database had either been removed or would be removed soon.
However, the process has been slow because of limited personnel numbers.
Soon after this article was published, the spokesperson added, "I was able to confirm that the content related to Enola Gay was identified for review, but not removed. https://ndupress.ndu.edu/Media/Images/igphoto/2002060253/. In the rare cases that content is removed that is out of the clearly outlined scope of the directive, we instruct components accordingly."
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said: "DEI is dead.
Per the AP's database, the image in question showed U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III touring a bomb pit loading area where the Enola Gay aircraft was loaded with the atomic bomb used on Hiroshima.
But many other photographs on the air force and National Defense University websites (seen here, here, here, and here) still show the Enola Gay aircraft as of this writing.
While the Air Force confirmed it was removing imagery that violated Trump's order, it did not specify which images and only anonymous officials confirmed the ones that were flagged for removal to the AP.
However, based on our examination of military webpages, a few images of Enola Gay have been removed while others remain.
Article 8 of 15 in Collection
Sources
"Atomic Bomb "Little Boy" Hoisted into Bomb Bay of B-29 Superfortress, Enola Gay, Tinian Island, August 1945." U.S. Navy National Museum.
We are returning the focus of the military to merit and mission readiness."
What's Next
Military branches are continuing to review content, but officials have acknowledged that inconsistencies in archival procedures may make it difficult to recover deleted materials.
Some historians and military experts have raised concerns that the removals could lead to the loss of important records documenting the evolution of the armed forces.
This article uses reporting by The Associated Press.
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In Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s quest to nix all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) content, some photos on the department’s website and online posts appear to be marked for deletion just because they include the word “gay”—regardless of what the context is.
One such case, the Associated Pressreported Thursday, is a photograph of the Enola Gay, a World War II aircraft from which an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan in August 1945.
Paul Tibbetts in Front of the Enola Gay." U.S. Air Force, https://www.af.mil/News/Photos/igphoto/2000593150/. Accessed 10 Mar. 2025.
"Ending Illegal Discrimination And Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity." The White House, 22 Jan. 2025, https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-illegal-discrimination-and-restoring-merit-based-opportunity/.
Some information was removed based on a keyword search. The original source for such a claim was an AP story that relied on anonymous officials to confirm the details. The Marine Corps has only one civilian employee handling the removals, and an estimated 1,600 military-related social media accounts remain under review.
The removal effort has sparked confusion, as some images appear to have been marked for deletion because their filenames contain the word "gay," including those of service members with that last name and the Enola Gay, the Boeing B-29 aircraft that dropped the first atomic bomb in combat during World War II.
The vast majority of the Pentagon purge targets women and minorities and it also removes a large number of posts that mention various commemorative months—such as those for Black and Hispanic people and women.
Images of historically significant military achievements or personnel, such as the Tuskegee Airmen and the first female Marine Corps infantry graduates, have been flagged for removal.
And a photo of Army Corps biologists was on the list, seemingly because it mentioned they were recording data about fish—including their weight, size, hatchery and gender.
What People Are Saying
Pentagon spokesman John Ullyot confirmed the removals: "We are pleased by the rapid compliance across the Department with the directive removing DEI content from all platforms.
Individuals are encouraged to bring content they believe was erroneously removed to Public Affairs' attention for review.
The spokesperson would not specify on the record what categories or keywords violated the anti-DEI order. The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/07/military-images-trump-dei.
This person added that it’s unclear whether the database of flagged images is final.
Much of the material that does fall under Hegseth’s initiative celebrates heritage or relates to contributions to the military by women and minorities. Accessed 10 Mar. 2025.
"US Military Firsts among the 26,000 Images Flagged for Deletion in Trump DEI Purge." The Guardian, 7 Mar.
2025. If we validate the content does not meet the EO requirement for removal, we will repost it. The Air Force spokesperson said:
In response to President Trump's Executive Orders and Secretary Hegseth's priorities, all Military Departments received guidance from the Department of Defense to review and remove DoD news and feature articles, photos, videos, and social media posts that promote Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
In particular, Snopes readers asked us about claims that photos of the World War II aircraft Enola Gay were removed because of the word "gay."
One social media post making the claim said: "They purged pictures of the Enola Gay from the DOD websites because they thought it had to do with LGBTQ.
The overly broad net cast by the Defense Department is quite similar to what the Trump administration did last month to the Internal Revenue Service.
While trying to root out any potential DEI references in the Internal Revenue Manuals, unrelated content was deleted, like references to the “inclusion” of a taxpayer’s identification number on a form.
At the time, MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow described the move as “willy-nilly control-F deleting anything” textually linked to DEI.
Read more at The Daily Beast.
Washington DC - Defense SecretaryPete Hegseth anti-diversity crusade reportedly led to his department deleting photos of the infamous World War II bomber Enola Gay.
A database obtained by The Associated Press revealed that Pete Hegseth's attempt to scrub the Pentagon of all references to ethnic, racial, or sexual minorities has led to historically significant images being scrubbed from the web.
Approximately 26,000 images have been flagged for removal by the DOD due to their use of terms and keywords that Hegseth and MAGA find offensive.
Photos of the legendary Tuskegee Airmen, the first Black pilots to serve in the US armed forces, are also to be removed due to the race of the subjects.
The Pentagon is purging images of notable women in the military, as well as Hispanic service people.
In one of the more bizarre examples, images of army biologists have been removed, potentially because they showed people recording the weight and gender of fish.
Almost immediately after entering office, President Donald Trump shut down all Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs and laid off their associated workers.
The Trump administration is being challenged in a civil and human rights lawsuit lodged in February that argues his policies are intentionally discriminatory and violate free speech.
The Enola Gay content remains on the website."
Trump's executive order criticized how institutions including the federal government have allegedly "adopted and actively use dangerous, demeaning, and immoral race- and sex-based preferences under the guise of so-called 'diversity, equity, and inclusion'" and required federal agencies to stop hiring on the basis of "race, color, sex, sexual preference, religion, or national origin."
Enola Gay was the name of the B-29 aircraft that dropped the world's first atomic bomb used in war on Hiroshima, Japan, during World War II.
The pilot handpicked the name, honoring his mother, the night before the mission.
The DOD flagged numerous posts on archival websites for removal on military websites, some of which were already deleted because they violated the administration's order to stop DEI programming, according to the AP. The AP report included a database that highlighted a number of images of the Enola Gay aircraft, some of which were no longer available on military websites, and others that are still available but "flagged" for removal across all military websites.
Some deletions took place not because of any LGBTQ+ content, but simply due to use of the word "gay." According to the AP, some Army Corps of Engineers photos were flagged for deletion because one of the engineers had the last name "Gay."
As of this writing, this image (archived) of the aircraft is still not visible on the Air Force website.
You can't make up how dumb they are."
While some pictures of the Enola Gay aircraft were removed from the U.S. Air Force and Department of Defense website, other photographs remained on the sites, though reports state they were "flagged" for removal.