WASHINGTON (AP) —The Pentagon has said it would restore images of legendary baseball player Jackie Robinson, the Tuskegee Airmen, Navajo Code Talkers, female fighter pilots and others swept up by a purge of diversity, equity and inclusion content.
It comes after The Associated Press obtained and published a database with more than 26,000 images and other content that were flagged for removal.
Removed in the DEI purge was a photo of the Enola Gay, the aircraft that dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan, despite the Pentagon calling that false. As of Wednesday, an Enola Gay photo was still not restored.
Images honoring the Tuskegee Airmen also were still down, as were some images of the Navajo Code Talkers.
In a statement, the Pentagon defended the deletions but said historic photos that had been incorrectly removed would be restored.
“Everyone at the Defense Department loves Jackie Robinson, as well as the Navajo Code Talkers, the Tuskegee Airmen, the Marines at Iwo Jima and so many others — we salute them for their strong and in many cases heroic service to our country, full stop,” said Pentagon spokesperson John Ullyot.