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A late army veteran named Charles Rogers is currently trending online after his name was temporarily removed from the Department of Defense website, reportedly as part of the ongoing curb down on the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives by the Trump administration.
The web page for Charles Rogers, who was an African-American United States Army general and a recipient of the Medal of Honor, showed a 404 error on March 15, 2025, while the URL was allegedly altered from ‘medal’ to ‘DEImedal.’
Notably, the matter came to light after writer Brandon Friedman shared a screenshot of a Google page entry (dated November 1, 2021) of the Department of Defense website on the social media platform, Bluesky, on Saturday, March 15.
“Medal of Honor Monday: Army Maj Gen. Charles Calvin Rogers. Army 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,” the entry’s Google preview read.
Meanwhile, Brandon Friedman captioned his post:
“This is blood-boiling. Charles Rogers was awarded the Medal of Honor in Vietnam after being wounded three times leading the defense of a position. Google his name and the entry below comes up. When you click, you’ll see the page has been deleted and the URL changed to include ‘DEI medal.’”
As explained by Brandon Friedman, the Department of Defense web page previously containing the name and image of Rogers appeared to be temporarily unavailable, with the error message showing: “the page you are looking for might have been moved, renamed, or may be temporarily unavailable,” The Guardian reported.
However, the web page was soon restored and now shows the name, image, and designation of Charles Rogers, on the Department of Defense website
All you need to know about Charles Rogers amid the DEI controversy
According to Times Now, Charles Calvin Rogers is a late U.S. Army general and lieutenant colonel, who served in the Vietnam War and received the Medal of Honor.
Charles Rogers was the highest-ranking Black army man to have received the award from President Richard Nixon in 1970 for his "actions that took place near the Cambodian border on November 1, 1968," as per the West Virginia Hall of Fame.
The website also described him as the commander of the 1st battalion, 5th artillery regiment in the Vietnam War, who led the defense of Fire Support Base Rita from the front in 1968. Charles Rogers was injured several times during his service overseas.
He was the son of a coal miner with his roots in Claremont, Fayette County, in Virginia and passed away in 1990. Rogers is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C. A bridge in his hometown Fayette County was named as the Charles C. Rogers Bridge in 1999, as a tribute to his service and legacy.
Ever since Donald Trump was elected President for the second term, his administration has sought to roll back DEI efforts across the federal government. On Friday, a ban was lifted on the executive orders seeking the change by an appeals court.
