Pentagon restores histories of Navajo Code Talkers, other Native veterans after public outcry

PHOENIX – The Pentagon restored some webpages highlighting the crucial wartime contributions of Navajo Code Talkers and other Native American veterans on Wednesday, days after tribes condemned the action.

The initial removal was part of a sweep of any military content that promoted diversity, equity and inclusion, or commonly referred to as DEI. Following President Donald Trump’s broader executive order ending the federal government’s DEI programs, the Defense Department deleted thousands of pages honoring contributions by women and minority groups. Department officials say the Navajo Code Talker material was erroneously erased.

“In the rare cases that content is removed — either deliberately or by mistake — that is out of the clearly outlined scope of the directive, we instruct the components and they correct the content so it recognizes our heroes for their dedicated service alongside their fellow Americans, period,” Pentagon press secretary John Ullyot said in a statement.

Several webpages on the Code Talkers landed on a “404 – Page not found” message Tuesday. Some were back up Wednesday — although any that also mention Native American Heritage Month remain down. Thousands of other pages deleted in the DEI purge are still offline.

White House officials informed the Navajo Nation that an artificial intelligence-powered automated review process looking for content with DEI initiatives led to the elimination of anything mentioning “Navajo,” according to a statement from Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren.

Nygren, who sent a letter to the Defense Department requesting clarity on the issue, said he’s pleased by the resolution.

“I want to assure the Navajo people that we remain in close communication with federal officials to ensure the legacy of our cherished Navajo Code Talkers is never erased from American and Navajo history,” Nygren said.

He also pointed out the 574 federally recognized tribes across the U.S. are sovereign nations and not defined by DEI classifications, a stance broadly supported by other Native American leaders who also sent letters to the Trump administration.

The U.S. Marine Corps initially recruited 29 Navajo men to develop a code based on the unwritten Navajo language in World War II. Using Navajo words for red soil, war chief, clan, braided hair, beads, ant and hummingbird, for example, they came up with a glossary of more than 200 terms, later expanded, and an alphabet. To convey the word “send,” Code Talkers would say the Navajo words for “sheep, eyes, nose and deer.”

Hundreds of Navajos followed in their footsteps, sending thousands of messages without error on Japanese troop movements, battlefield tactics and other communications crucial to the war’s ultimate outcome. The code stumped Japanese military cryptologists.

The Code Talkers participated in all assaults the Marines led in the Pacific from 1942 to 1945 and are credited with helping the U.S. win the war. Hundreds of Native Americans from more than 20 tribes also served as code talkers during World War I and World War II, according to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. Among them were Choctaw, Cherokee, Osage, Chippewa and Hopi speakers.

Among those alarmed to hear of the missing Navajo Code Talker webpages was Peter MacDonald, 96. He and Thomas H. Begay are the only two Navajo Code Talkers still living today.

“That code became a very valuable weapon and not only saved hundreds of thousands of soldiers, but it also helped win the war in the Pacific,” MacDonald said by phone from his home in Tuba City in the Arizona portion of the Navajo Nation. “And it has absolutely nothing to do with DEI.”

A Republican who voted for Trump, MacDonald said he thinks the current administration needs to better walk the line between getting rid of DEI and ignoring history.

“That’s why I’m very concerned that communication from the Pentagon down to the various military units should be taught or learn that this information is history, and you don’t want to hide history,” MacDonald said.

The Defense Department has had to issue reassurances that it is not omitting historic achievements by servicemen and women of color. Besides the Code Talkers, the agency also on Wednesday restored a webpage describing baseball and civil rights icon Jackie Robinson’s military service after it was missing earlier in the day. Last week, pages honoring a Black Medal of Honor winner and Japanese American service members were also 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,” Ullyot said. “We do not view or highlight them through the prism of immutable characteristics, such as race, ethnicity or sex.”

Michael Smith, whose father, Samuel “Jesse” Smith Sr., was a Navajo Code Talker, questioned why these pages were removed at all.

“I don’t know how taking Navajo Code Talkers off the Department of Defense website is saving the United States any money because that’s not consistent with the president’s order,” said Smith, who helps organize annual celebrations of the Code Talkers.

Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis of the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona also expressed disappointment, claiming there was missing content relating to all Native American veterans, including Ira Hayes. Hayes was an enrolled member of the tribe and one of six Marines featured in an iconic 1945 Associated Press photograph of U.S. forces raising an American flag during the Battle of Iwo Jima.

Even with some being reposted, he remains worried web content removal is “the tip of the iceberg.”

“The way it looks in the (executive) order, this language is skewed and made to sound like the diversity programs are the ones that are unethical,” Smith said.