An article dedicated to baseball legend Jackie Robinson’s accomplishments and background serving in the U.S. military was taken down from the Department of Defense website and has seemingly been restored.
A page titled ‘Sports Heroes Who Served: Baseball Great Jackie Robinson Was WWII Soldier,’ was showing a 404 error page but is now back up.
The broken webpage comes as President Donald Trump has directed federal agencies to squash diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Mentions of the transgender community and other Black historical figures have also been taken down from some government websites. Army Maj. Gen. Charles Gavin Rogers’s Medal of Honor website page was temporarily updated with ‘DEImedal’ in the URL, taken down, and then restored. Native American soldier Ira Hayes was memorialized on the Defense website as one of the six flag raisers in an iconic World War II photo, but the page now shows a 404 error message.
Robinson’s deactivated article outlined his athletic achievements through high school and college, his services in the military in World War II, and his legacy as the first Black baseball player in modern Major League Baseball.
Jackie Robinson’s WWII history was removed on Defense website; Department responds
USA TODAY reached out to the Department of Defense and received this response from Pentagon Press Secretary John Ullyot:
“As Secretary Hegseth has said, DEI is dead at the Defense Department. Discriminatory Equity Ideology is a form of Woke cultural Marxism that has no place in our military. It Divides the force, Erodes unit cohesion and Interferes with the services’ core warfighting mission. We are pleased by the rapid compliance across the Department with the directive removing DEI content from all platforms. 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 accordingly.’
The Jackie Robinson Foundation did not immediately respond to USA TODAY’s inquiry on the matter.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has acted on Trump’s anti-DEI directives, posting a note that read ‘DoD ≠ DEI…no exceptions, name-changes, or delays. Those who do not comply will no longer work here.’
The article was part of a series by DoD News that ‘highlights the accomplishments of athletes who served in the U.S. military.’ Other articles in the series cover Dan Bankhead, the first Black pitcher in MLB, Eddie Robinson, and NFL Hall of Famer Kevin Green, all of which were still active on the website as of Wednesday afternoon.
Robinson was drafted and assigned to a segregated Army cavalry unit in Kansas in 1942, according to the deactivated Defense page. He was later assigned to Fort Hood, Texas where he joined the 761st ‘Black Panthers’ tank battalion.
In 1944, he refused to move to the back of an Army bus, resulting in his arrest and eventual acquittal. He then served as a coach with Army athletics for a few months before receiving an honorable discharge, the news article states.
Over the next few years, he would be called into the major leagues where he became an all-star champion several times over, Rookie of the Year and a World Series Champion, the article states.
This story has been updated to include information about the web page being restored.
Kinsey Crowley is a trending news reporter at USA TODAY. Reach her at kcrowley@gannett.com. Follow her on X and TikTok @kinseycrowley or Bluesky at @kinseycrowley.bsky.social.
