Pentagon to remove images of Enola Gay in Trump's DEI purge

War heroes and military firsts are among 26,000 images flagged for removal

20250310 Enola Gay file photo

Col. Paul Tibbetts poses in front of the Enola Gay B-29 Superfortress in this undated U.S. Air Force handout photo. He piloted the plane when it dropped an atom bomb over Hiroshima, Japan, during World War II. © Reuters

WASHINGTON (AP) -- References to a World War II Medal of Honor recipient, the Enola Gay aircraft that dropped an atomic bomb on Japan and the first women to pass Marine infantry training are among the tens of thousands of photos and online posts marked for deletion as the Defense Department works to purge diversity, equity and inclusion content, according to a database obtained by The Associated Press.

The database, which was confirmed by U.S. officials and published by AP, includes more than 26,000 images that have been flagged for removal across every military branch. But the eventual total could be much higher.

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