Exclusive: Navajo Code Talkers disappear from military websites after Trump DEI order

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Axios

1 hour ago -
Politics
Exclusive: Navajo Code Talkers disappear from military websites after Trump DEI order

Erin Alberty

https://images.axios.com/JWmY01W1R_VDxF6Uw9Om4eLBGiY/0x82:3400x1995/1920x1080/2025/03/17/1742182285380.jpg

https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/AA1B6pw0.img

A two-man team of Navajo code talkers attached to a Marine regiment in the Pacific relay orders over the field radio using their native language. Photo: Corbis via Getty Images

Articles about the renowned Native American Code Talkers have disappeared from some military websites, with several broken URLs now labeled "DEI."

Why it matters: From 1942 to 1945, the Navajo Code Talkers were instrumental in every major Marine Corps operation in the Pacific Theater of World War II.

* They were critical to securing America's victory at Iwo Jima.

Driving the news: Axios identified at least 10 articles mentioning the Code Talkers that had disappeared from the U.S. Army and Department of Defense websites as of Monday.

How it works: The Defense department's URLs were amended with the letters DEI, suggesting they were removed following President Trump's executive order ending federal diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

* The Internet Archive shows the deleted Army pages were live as recently as November, with many visible until February or March. None are shown with error messages until Trump took office.

The other side: Asked about the missing pages, Pentagon Press Secretary John Ullyot replied in a statement: "As Secretary [Pete] Hegseth has said, DEI is dead at the Defense Department. ... We are pleased by the rapid compliance across the Department with the directive removing DEI content from all platforms."

{snip}

Read more: https://www.axios.com/local/salt-lake-city/2025/03/17/navajo-code-talkers-trump-dei-military-websites-wwii

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They should go back where they came from.

Don't hate! Sarcasm!

-- -- -- -- -- --

One of the best episodes of "The X-Files" was based on Navajo code talkers.

-- -- -- -- -- --

Reposted by Max Kennerly
https://bsky.app/profile/maxkennerly.bsky.social

‪Corey Rayburn Yung‬ ‪@coreyryung.bsky.social‬
https://bsky.app/profile/coreyryung.bsky.social
·
47m
This isn't anti-DEI - it's retelling history as a story with only white men in it. The tale of the Navajo Code Talkers is essential to understanding the Allies' victory in WWII. Removing it because the people involved were non-white is segregationism.

‪Axios‬ ‪@axios.com‬
·
1h
Exclusive: Navajo Code Talkers disappear from military websites after Trump DEI order

Navajo Code Talkers get "DEI" label as military info disappears under Trump order
https://www.axios.com/local/salt-lake-city/2025/03/17/navajo-code-talkers-trump-dei-military-websites-wwii

Also vanishing: The Civil War regiment from "Glory," women pilots from WWII and a Medal of Honor winner.
www.axios.com
https://www.axios.com/local/salt-lake-city/2025/03/17/navajo-code-talkers-trump-dei-military-websites-wwii

https://bsky.app/profile/coreyryung.bsky.social/post/3lklt3hfyvc26

[NotHardly]

1. MSN link to disappearing Navaho code talkers...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/society-culture-and-history/social-issues/navajo-code-talkers-get-dei-label-as-military-info-disappears-under-trump-order/ar-AA1B6ubJ

[mahatmakanejeeves]

5. Did you have that up earlier? I searched (not a whole lot, though) and did not find it. NT

[NotHardly]

47. This behavior is deplorable and shameful!

[NotHardly]

2. We're all about to get disappeared. MMW.

[Deuxcents]

3. THAT does it🤬 This whole assault on our history has got to stop. Don't tell me there's not a way.

DEI is who this country is, has been and always will be.

[gilligan]

23. Yes Sir

[elleng]

63. and THANKS for helping win.

[BlueKota]

4. There isn't a word strong enough to describe

how deep my hatred goes for the Nazi fuckers now running this country.

[elleng]

64. No, there isn't (from me too.)

[Easterncedar]

6. The racism and erasure are insane

And shame on us if we let it go on.

Thank you, DU, for keeping the information flowing! We can’t fight what we don’t see.

Bravo, Mr. Jeeves.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

7. You got to be kidding

Link to tweet

[Irish_Dem]

8. Oh no, they directly helped win the war.

The enemy could not break the Code Talkers code.

They were obviously in great danger from the enemy who
wanted to kill them or capture them to get the code.

This is so very wrong to delete them.

[Aristus]

14. They were also in danger from friendly fire, as their First Nations features (or "insufficiently 'American-looking'

features" ) could get them confused with the Japanese.

[Irish_Dem]

17. Yes in the Pacific this was the case.

They were assigned body guards/protection but sometimes these guards were not enthusiastic about the job.

[DENVERPOPS]

53. Their ancestors were here originally !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and All these Trumphumpers are truly the immigrants.......

They are truly trying to re-write the History of America......

I fear for the National Archives Collection...

[Irish_Dem]

65. The fascists believe everything belongs to them.

All the world's territory, resources.

China even came right out and said that all intellectual property in the world belongs to them.
It is wrong for people around the world to claim their own intellectual property. It should belong to China!

Yes I think any artifacts connect to indigenous people, POC, and women will be destroyed or stolen.

It is like the Nazis in WWII.

[travelingthrulife]

67. These MAGA are Nazis. Code breakers wrecked their war against the world.

[Irish_Dem]

76. Yes anyone who fought the Nazis in WWII will be deleted and denigrated.

[Bayard]

9. I guess the Navaho Nation isn't, "American," enough for them

Beyond despicable.

[Irish_Dem]

10. Code Talkers were all over Europe too, starting with D Day.

Hitler could not break their code.

They helped win WWII.

[Hekate]

11. KnR. also 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

[moniss]

12. It's been a dream of people like the Birchers

to have history be "good guys are white" "bad guys are any other shade". Once they get that established they move on to the next phase where "good guys are US whites" "bad guys are any non-US people of any shade".

I remember working at a small place that had 2 die hard Birchers. Much like the Faux News brainwashed they only read things from the John Birch Society, did not watch any news programs and refused to discuss anything other than their "topics". Even way back then in the '60's and '70's they were anti-teacher, anti-professor etc. They were absolutely anti-desegregation and pro-war. They mourned the US not having nuked China and missing the chance to "conquer them".

I heard all of their crap about the superiority theories and "inferior genes" etc. That town is still racist as hell and has still gone after teachers for crossing some undefined "line".

[Clouds Passing]

37. Kochs are rot on this earth

[Leghorn21]

13. Here are some Pine Ridge vets and Minnie Spotted Wolf (Blackfoot), and I guess they've been disappeared as well

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1FNoK89FQt/



https://www.facebook.com/share/p/15kZqP3aMm/



https://www.sdnativehomeownershipcoalition.org/news/coalition-launches-native-american-veterans-homeownership-needs-assessment/



https://ictnews.org/news/powwow-celebrates-veterans-

Speaking as a Marine Corps brat, you KNOW this shit is 100% certified un fucking bearable, eh
HAVE MERCY

[IronLionZion]

15. From the "you can't erase history" people

[BadgerMom]

16. I'm ashamed of our nation. I'm angry that these authoritarian lies are enabled.

And I’m fearful. All of us are in danger.

But I also wonder where this ends? What’s the point? Only white, Republican, Christian, straight wealthy men and the young women they approve of can live here? Or maybe a few subservient people to wait on them? WTH?

[muriel_volestrangler]

18. Adolf Hitler was "Po'sa taiboo" -- "Crazy White Man" - see, that wouldn't work now

because they'd have to use it for the US president.

Anyway, it's obvious that they could have used English like any God-fearing American, isn't it? Choosing Navaho was just "woke".

[sinkingfeeling]

19. How disgusting. Tell me who, except those who want to kill, will join the armed services now?

[cojoel]

20. The use of "Dine bizaad" was one of the most clever means of cryptography deployed in World War 2

It was used as part of a multi-level code, but enemy code breakers could never get past just this first part. Removing these reference from the government's own history records is racist.

[Demovictory9]

21. Kick for exposure

[flashman13]

22. I expect very soon to see the announcement that all women aviators in the U.S. military are grounded.

At least one woman that I know of, that is a fully qualified carrier pilot, was pulled from her slot to attend Top Gun. Why? Because her commanding officer said that we are never going to deploy women (or any you fill in the blank, non-white, non-male, non-christian) in combat again. Why bother training them? Forget the fact that the military has already invested literally millions of dollars to train that woman. Also forget that women are physiologically better adapted to the stresses of combat flying than men.

[SunSeeker]

24. K & R for exposure

[orangecrush]

25. This administration and it's supporters need corrective therapy

[republianmushroom]

31. No, they need jail time, but,

we can thank Merrick the Meek for this and our so called supreme court.

49 months and counting

[pandr32]

26. I am so disgusted.

This is what we get for not standing up to Traitor Don faster and harder. He should never have entered the White House again.
But regrets, right? What the f good are they?

[SamKnause]

27. Evil fuckers.

They are erasing the history of this country and the world.

Fuck all of them.

[central scrutinizer]

72. Those who control the past control the future

George Orwell, 1984

[Harker]

78. The inscription above the west entrance of the Norlin Library (University of Coloado) is inscribed...

"Who knows only his own generation remains always a child."

[ultralite001]

28. 💔💔💔

TIA...

[Kev80]

29. Ira Hayes

When do they photoshop Ira Hayes out of the flag raising photo on Iwo Jima.

[AZLD4Candidate]

40. Ira Hayes was not Navajo. He was "Pima," or as they call themselves "Akimel o'Odham" which means River People

I taught at Baboquivari High School on the Tohono o'Odham nation, which means desert people.

Fun fact: Tucson is from their language, a bastardization of Tukson.

Fun fact #2: Squaw Peak in Maricopa County was re-named Piestewa Peark after Lori Piestewa, a AOO that was the first native woman killed in combat in US history. AZ did the same for the Hoover Dam bridge, now known as the Pat Tillman Bridge, an NFL defensive back that gave it all up to enlist in the second Desert Storm as a marine only to die in combat.

[RazorbackExpat]

80. Wasn't Tillman killed in a 'friendly fire' incident?

I seem to recall he was having doubts about the war in Afghanistan

[AZLD4Candidate]

81. yes and yes.

[republianmushroom]

30. SHAME, this is unforgivable.

Last edited Mon Mar 17, 2025, 05:47 PM - Edit history (1)

As determined my the man with bone spurs.

[scipan]

32. This is out and out racism. And probably illegal. Way beyond dei.

[markie]

43. yes, way beyond DEI

[AZProgressive]

48. DEI is a dogwhistle from the right a lot like the word 'woke'

They are not straight forward when it comes to the racist policies they want to enact.

I think the whole point of DEI is to prevent workplace discrimination which is illegal though not sure as I haven't kept up with every Trump action but he is going as far back as the LBJ administration to change policies which were settled a long time ago.

[Marvin Jones]

33. Washington and Lee

When General Washington, Commander in Chief of the Continental Forces, rode up to New England to review the troops of the North and South together for the first time, one would have thought that an aristocrat from Virginia would have been on hand for the event. But no, Washington had Billy Lee ride up with him, and he stayed by his side throughout the war. Lee kept his papers. He was a black man, and Washington remembered him in his will. So, is that to be forgotten too?

[Botany]

34. How Un-American can you be then to try to remove the STORY of those heroes, the Code Talkers?

But these attacks on our reality and history are no joke.

[Monsieur_Grumpe]

35. Germans could not translate their language. This is important history.

[jmowreader]

38. It wasn't just the language

The Japanese captured some Navajo soldiers who weren't Code Talkers and tried to get them to break out the Code Talker messages Japanese Signals Intelligence troops had intercepted. They couldn't do it.

[AZLD4Candidate]

41. The Japanese. Navajo were in the Pacific Theater

The Comanche, Cherokee, and Choctaw were in Europe.

[Clouds Passing]

36. No words, just disgusted.

I have met Navajo Code Talkers. I honor their life, service, work.

[Butterflylady]

39. What do they have to do with DEI?

I don't know how in the world that Hogseth came up with that.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

46. They were not white.

They were picked because they were Navajo, and spoke Navajo. There were no whites among the Navajo code talkers. This is discrimination against the white race, the race celebrated by Hesbeth's christian crusader tattoos.

[damifino10]

42. Attention Veterans!

First, fuck the SOB'S that are trying to rewrite history. Congress is full of cowards and traitors. Aiding and abetting this shithead that you call a president should qualify you as a traitor.
Now the part that really fries my ass, if you are a vet and you voted the fascist that has the codes to atomic weapons, fuck you too. He and you are turning this country upside down and not in a good way. You walk around with your Band of Brothers gear and have forgotten what that you swore to protect the Constitution. FUCK You and all your enablers.
These fellows were Marines. Semper Fi sure doesn't mean what it use to.
By the way, I am a vet. If the VA goes to shit because of you and you ilk, you brought, you bought it, and I sincerely hope than it hits you and you medical care right in your ass.
I'm done.

[pfitz59]

44. I hope there is a legacy server somewhere with all this deleted info.

A backup which can be reinstalled after Trump, Musk and DOGE get booted.

[slightlv]

52. This may be where the WayBack machine is our REAL friend! nt

[Johnny2X2X]

45. Whites only

That’s what this means.

[BattleRow]

49. Does this mean all the cowboy and Indian movies will be purged,also?

[Godot51]

50. White History decade... no, century... no, eternity...

We shall rewrite all of American History and omit all but those white men who contributed.

[Marcuse]

51. Anti-inclusion means exclusion.

[electric_blue68]

54. Insult, after injury, after insult, after.... Shame on all the acknowledgements disappearing!

Critical people during WW2 efforts

[FailureToCommunicate]

55. Hey TSF, come on out here and try to take THIS down...

[turbinetree]

57. This..................

[3auld6phart]

56. Next

Removal of African American ,Hispanic and other non white males from National Cemeteries… when in Hell are you chicken shits going to rid yourselves of that Orange freak and his sycophants. This is beyond being a total embarrassment.

[phxjurist]

58. Trump acts while Congress sleeps.

[dai13sy]

59. Trump is the biggest LOSER /HATER on this planet

We need the "Code Talkers." They do a very important job for their nation. Trump does diddly that's good.

[aggiesal]

60. Anti-DEI means only White Males ...

[bluestateboomer]

61. The 442nd RCT also was taken down but...

After vocal protest the100th/442nd Regimental Combat Team's history was returned to the Army website. This unit was the highly decorated Japanese American unit in WWII.

I suggest more strong protests about the Code Talkers and the Tuskegee Airman could bring about the same result.

https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2025/03/16/following-outcry-army-republishes-web-article-442nd-regimental-combat-team/?fbclid=IwY2xjawJF7_tleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHeJP2Tnkl7qX7-dV4rbyBCg8KXcLg22-SGfxszd-_1YjbOSlqO36XppXlQ_aem_BAnNw4tvJ79KOxazEltK3A

[elleng]

62. They were critical to securing America's victory at Iwo Jima.

[Martin Eden]

66. Evil Racist Fascists control our government

There will be blood.

[hadEnuf]

68. DEI my ass.

This administration is pissed because the Code Talkers helped to win the war against the Nazis and the Japanese.

After all, the Trumpists emulate the Nazis and the militant Japanese of WWII. Hitler is Trump and Musk's template for what they are doing now.

[BobTheSubgenius]

69. I imagine the Tuskegee Airmen won't be far behind.

Bastards!!! Rewriting of history is hardly a new thing, but THIS??? It's infuriating, at the very least.

[Jarqui]

70. They already tried once

Air Force reinstates course with Tuskegee Airmen video after outcry
https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2025/01/27/air-force-reinstates-course-with-tuskegee-airmen-video-after-outcry/

[Jarqui]

71. Despicable but

and I do not intend to demean who awful this is ...

It seems so many of these things serve to distract from folks seeing their end game

After they alienate all minorities, women, LGBTQIA+, disabled, etc, how can they hope to win a vote?
By messing with the elections or not having one

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

73. SO DOES ABOLISHING "DEI" mean no other accomplishments

besides that of the almighty White Man get acknowledged????? I was kinda thinking "no DEI" meant "no special perks for women or people of color," which, although ignoring historic realities, at least makes some kind of sense.

As someone who comes from a long line of not very well off farmer folk, Ive seen first hand how white men from poverty backgrounds do not do well either, and have long argued that classism/elitism is a real thing that needs to be part of whats included in any discussion of diversity,e quity and Inclusion.

But what Im seeing now - it seems like in Maga-land, "no DEI" means no women or people of color allowed, period. Apparently even Colin Powell, i.e. a person of considerable fame and highly regarded, has been relegated to the back pages of military website, instead of the prominent place he once occupied.

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

79. What a great post, fabulous insight, well written

[LetMyPeopleVote]

74. If it wasn't for these guys, WE'D all be speaking German or Japanese. Get your shit together.

Link to tweet

[LetMyPeopleVote]

75. This is veteran Thomas Begay, one of the last two living Navajo Code Talkers from World War II

Link to tweet

[LetMyPeopleVote]

77. New Name for the Gulf of Mexico