It sounds like a punchline — the most moving war memorial in Arizona is inside a Burger King — but the Code Talker Exhibit in Kayenta's Burger King is exactly that, and it deserves your time. During the Second World War, the US Marine Corps recruited Navajo men to transmit messages in their native language, Diné Bizaad. The language had never been written down, was spoken by almost no one outside the Navajo Nation, and proved unbreakable: Japanese code-breakers never cracked it. The Code Talkers' contribution to communications security in the Pacific theatre was significant enough that it remained classified until 1968.
The exhibit — free, open during restaurant hours — fills the dining room with photographs of the original Code Talkers, explanatory panels about how the code worked, and displays of honours and memorabilia. Outside in the parking lot, two reconstructed hogans (the traditional Navajo dwelling) contain expanded exhibits with additional artefacts and context. The Burger King and the Hampton Inn next door are both owned by a family descended from Code Talkers, which gives the whole enterprise a coherence that transcends its unlikely setting.
Allow 20 to 30 minutes. The exhibit handles the history with genuine care, and for many visitors it is the most unexpectedly affecting stop of the entire trip.