Following the Trump Administration’s strike down of the U.S.’s DEI laws, historical photos of the Enola Gay were removed from the DoD’s databases.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered a sweeping purge of all digital content that promoted Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) within the Department of Defense (DoD), and more than 26,000 images have already been flagged across the branches of the U.S. military.
Not all images were removed as of Thursday evening, but officials have suggested that the number could increase as the review process continues.
“We are pleased by the rapid compliance across the Department with the directive removing DEI content from all platforms,” Pentagon spokesperson John Ullyot said in a written statement, per Newsweek.
“In the rare cases that content is removed that is out of the clearly outlined scope of the directive, we instruct components accordingly.”
Officials also confirmed that some images may be “temporarily removed from public display” and could undergo closer scrutiny at a later date.
“DEI is dead. We are returning the focus of the military to merit and mission readiness,” Hegseth said shortly after being sworn in to the cabinet post.
Purging The Gay Away
The database of images that could be removed was obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday and reportedly included, “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.”
The issue with the infamous aircraft came down to the fact that it had “Gay” in the name, and it was likely tagged by an algorithm. The same had occurred to servicemembers whose last name was “Gay.”
The issue could be resolved once it undergoes a review, but this may serve as a reminder of Newton’s Third Law of Motion that, “for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”
During the Biden Administration, the DoD ordered a DEI campaign that critics argued went too far. Now the efforts to undo that campaign could be just as extreme.
“The vast majority of the Pentagon purge targets women and minorities, including notable milestones made in the military. And it also removes a large number of posts that mention various commemorative months, such as those for Black and Hispanic people and women,” the AP report added.
The Enola Gay and Controversy
This year will mark the eightieth anniversary of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress dropping Little Boy on Japan, on August 6, 1945. It should be noted that this is just the most recent controversy involving the famed World War II aircraft.
Though the Enola Gay was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution soon after World War II, there was no facility large enough to display it, and not even storage space available. As a result, the B-29 was sent to Andrews Air Force Base (AFB), Maryland, where, also due to a lack of hangar space, the Superfortress was left outdoors.
Finally, in 1961, it was fully disassembled and moved to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum storage facility, and there it has sat ever since!
It was only after the National Air and Space Museum opened its doors in 1976 that consideration was given to the bomber. However, it was still larger than the famed D.C. museum could accommodate, so the restoration focused on preserving the fuselage rather than the entire aircraft.
Those efforts only began in the mid 1980s, and soon after the issue of displaying the aircraft at all began, with some voicing concerns that it would celebrate the use of the atomic bomb against other human beings. As the exhibit plan was modified, U.S. veteran groups countered that it would focus too much on the Japanese casualties killed by the atomic bomb and not on the motivations that required its use.
However, the aircraft’s fuselage finally went on display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., in January 1995, marking the fiftieth anniversary of the end of World War II, and the exhibit remained until May 1998. While there were some protests, and compromises were made, the exhibit drew millions of visitors, including more than one million in just the first year.
After the exhibit ended, the Enola Gay underwent a full restoration and since 2003, the completely refurbished B-29 has been on display at the NASM’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center located near the Dulles Airport.
As for the name, there is nothing the least bit “sexual” about it.
Col. Paul Tibbets, who piloted the Enola Gay, had simply named the aircraft for his mother “Enola Gay Tibbet,” who herself was named after the titular heroine of the novel Enola: Or Her Fatal Mistake, written by Mary Young Ridenbaugh in 1886.
Finally, the other B-29 to drop an atomic bomb on Japan, just three days after Enola Gay’s mission, is now in the collection of the National Museum of the United States Air Force. “Bockscar,” which carried the Fat Man atomic weapon, was decommissioned after World War II. It flew to the museum in 1961, located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (AFB), Dayton, Ohio, where it has been on display since.
About the Author: Peter Suciu
Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: [email protected].
Image: Shutterstock/Wirecraft Creators.
