Navajo Code Talkers materials to be restored on military websites following backlash

The latest: By Wednesday, the Defense Department in a statement said it planned to restore the material that had been taken down during the "auto-removal process," KSL.com reported.

• U.S. Army spokesman Christopher Surridge said in a statement, per KSL.com, that the information would be republished on its websites.
• "The heroic actions of the Navajo Code Talkers will live in the annals of our nation's history forever, and we are proud to restore articles highlighting these soldiers who bravely served in both world wars," Surridge said.

Catch up quick: Axios reported Monday that at least 10 articles mentioning the Code Talkers had disappeared from the U.S. Army and Department of Defense websites.

• Asked about the missing pages, Pentagon Press Secretary John Ullyot previously defended their removal, saying in a statement: "As Secretary [Pete] Hegseth has said, DEI is dead at the Defense Department. ... 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 that is out of the clearly outlined scope of the directive, we instruct components accordingly," he added.