Pete Hegseth disputes claim Colin Powell, people of color ‘removed’ from Arlington Cemetery list

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth threw cold water on claims that he removed the name of Colin Powell and others from a list of notable Americans buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Hegseth dropped a simple “Fake” caption to the claim by Carlos Turnbull, a Democrat, on X where he made the claim about Powell and wrote that “Hegseth also removed the names of every person of color and every woman on the same list. Only white men were left in place.”

Fake https://t.co/Cwz7sATVzs

— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) March 20, 2025

The original post was also hit with community notes on the social media platform calling it “deeply misleading.”

“Neither Colin Powell nor anyone else has been removed from a list of notable Americans buried at Arlington Cemetery. The site has simply been reorganized so that people are classified according to their achievements, not according to race and gender,” the context explained.

Turnbull added links to reports from Stars and Stripes, The New York Times and the BBC to back up his claim. But even the headline from Stars and Stripes explains that it was “race and gender” categories that were scrubbed, not the names.

“Arlington National Cemetery, the final resting place of presidents, generals, Medal of Honor recipients and more than 400,000 service members and their families, has purged its website of material focused on Black, Hispanic, and female troops buried there, officials confirmed Friday,” the site explained.

“Before January, the website included lists of prominent Black people and famous women buried at Arlington. While the individual graves still turn up on website searches, lists grouping the dead by race or gender do not,” the outlet noted.

President Trump’s Rapid Response account on X also provided a succinct takedown of Turnbull’s claim.

Wrong. https://t.co/5RVYxxKk8Y pic.twitter.com/m16PWhthy4

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 21, 2025

“Arlington National Cemetery is actively working to update our website and Education Program content in compliance with executive orders issued by the president and Department of Defense instructions,” the cemetery’s website noted, adding:

We want to clarify that no service members have been permanently removed from the “Notable Graves” section of our website. These pages highlight stories of historically significant individuals with accuracy and in commemoration of their service and sacrifice. All profiles of individuals from the previously listed categories “African American History,” “Hispanic American History” and “Women’s History” can be found in other categories, such as “Prominent Military Figures,” “Politics and Government,” or “Science, Technology and Engineering” (to name a few examples), based on the person’s historical contributions to our nation.

However, despite proof to the contrary, the inaccurate claims circulated on X where many blasted the administration and Hegseth for something that wasn’t even true.

It always surprises me that you fall for these stories. I just went on the Arlington National Cemetery website and all of these pages are there with detailed descriptions and information. You can see by the time on the screen shots. pic.twitter.com/QEe5jEs767

— Double J sometimes Jsquared (@jsquaredftl) March 16, 2025

Many X users countered the claims with reality checks of their own.

Why are you spreading disinformation?

— DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) March 20, 2025

This is a lie

— Clown World ™ (@ClownWorld_) March 20, 2025

This is a lie. Everyone is still on the website but there are no longer separate categories by race. The colors that matter are red white and blue.

— Proud American (@JimSTruthBTold) March 20, 2025

Senior Staff Writer
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.

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