Burger King and Navajo Code Talker Display and Navajo Culture Center

Passing through Kayenta, Utah, a rather desolate place, we saw this billboard. This was on May 13th.

Not exactly your typical tourist attraction, so of course it appealed to us, and we stopped to check it out. (It was weird walking into a Burger King.)

Turns out, the father of the owner of the Burger King, was a Navajo Code Talker during WWII. The exhibits were from the father’s collection.

The Navajo Code Talkers were a group of Navajo soldiers who developed and used a code based on the Navajo language to send encrypted messages during WWII. The Navajo code is the only spoken military code never to have been deciphered. They saved thousands of American lives.

For more on the fascinating history of Navajo Code Talkers, see https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/educational-magazines/navajo-code-talkers

For more on this particular Navajo Code Talker, the father of the Burger King owner, see https://www.americanheritage.com/cheeseburgers-and-code-talkers