The US defense department webpage celebrating an army general who served in the Vietnam war and was awarded the countryās highest military decoration has been removed and the letters āDEIā added to the siteās address.
On Saturday, US army Maj Gen Charles Calvin Rogersās Medal of Honor webpage led to a ā404ā error message. The URL was also changed, with the word āmedalā changed to ādeimedalā.
Rogers, who was awarded the Medal of Honor by then president Richard Nixon in 1970, served in the Vietnam war, where he was wounded three times while leading the defense of a base.
According to the West Virginia military hall of fame, Rogers was the highest-ranking African American to receive the medal. After his death in 1990, Rogersās remains were buried at the Arlington national cemetery in Washington DC, and in 1999 a bridge in Fayette county, where Rogers was born, was renamed the Charles C Rogers Bridge.
As of Sunday afternoon, a ā404 ā Page Not Foundā message appeared on the defense departmentās webpage for Rogers, along with the message: āThe page you are looking for might have been moved, renamed, or may be temporarily unavailable.ā
A screenshot posted by the writer Brandon Friedman on Bluesky on Saturday evening showed the Google preview of an entry of Rogersās profile on the defense departmentās website.
Dated 1 November 2021, the entryās Google preview reads: āMedal of Honor Monday: Army Maj Gen. Charles Calvin Rogers.ā Below it are the words: āArmy Maj Gen Charles Calvin Rogers served through all of it. As a Black man, he worked for gender and race equality while in the service.ā
āGoogle his name and the entry below comes up. When you click, youāll see the page has been deleted and the URL changed to include āDEI medal,āā Friedman wrote.
The Guardian has asked the defense department for comment.
Since taking office in January, Donald Trump has moved his administration to roll back DEI ā diversity, equity and inclusion ā efforts across the federal government.
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One executive order sought to terminate all āmandates, policies, programs, preferences and activities in the federal governmentā, which the Trump administration deems āillegal DEI and ādiversity, equity, inclusion and accessibilityā (DEIA) programsā.
In a win for the Trump administration on Friday, an appeals court lifted a block on executive orders that seek to end the federal governmentās support for DEI programs.