Pentagon quietly restores web page on Black Medal of Honor recipient after Backlash over ‘DEI’ label

The Department of Defense (DoD) on Monday quietly restored a web page it had removed about Army Maj. Gen. Charles Rogers, a Black man who earned the Medal of Honor for his leadership during the Vietnam War.

The removal of the 2021 article on Rogers stoked furious backlash on social media—particularly after critics realized the then-defunct URL had been changed to include "DEI medal."

"This is blood-boiling," remarked writer Brandon Friedman in a viral Saturday post on Bluesky, who shared screenshots of the web page's removal. "Charles Rogers was awarded the Medal of Honor in Vietnam after being wounded three times leading the defense of a position."

On X, the change quickly garnered attention as well, with one post similarly noting how the URL had been altered to include "DEI."

"The DoD has removed the article on Charles Roger's Medal of Honor," read the post, which racked up more than two million views. "He served in Vietnam, and despite being wounded three times in battle, rallied his troops and led them to victory in defense of Support Base Rita. Nixon presented his Medal."

Multiple posts rebuking the page's removal went viral, with users calling it "an insult to this veteran's legacy" and stating, "this isn't leadership, it's pettiness."

"This is insane and so openly racist," blasted one person.

"A major general is NEVER a DEI hire. Medals are earned. This is BS," concluded another commenter.

One person theorized the page was taken down because of the article's second sentence, which originally stated: "As a Black man, he worked for gender and race equality while in the service." The restored web page now uses the word "sex" in place of "gender."

The user condemned the edit, writing: "That's it. 7 words with no specifics & it's removed for 'DEI.'"

Her theory may be correct.

In the wake of the backlash, it seems the Pentagon has quietly reversed course. As of Monday morning, the original web page is back up.

Screenshots from the Wayback Machine indicate the change occurred on Monday morning, as an earlier screen grab from several hours earlier still shows a broken landing page with "deimedal" in the URL.

Additionally, the final paragraph of the article has likewise been tweaked to state: "Rogers has been remembered not just as being a Medal of Honor recipient, but for championing sex and race equality during his long tenure in the Army."

The Daily Dot reached out to the DoD for comment but did not receive a reply.

The incident comes after President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January order the purge of all content deemed related to DEI from the federal government.

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