History with fries

The highway sign was a bit confusing.

It advertised an exhibit about the famous World War II Navajo code talkers in Kayenta. That made sense since the dusty northern Arizona town lay in the heart of the huge Navajo Nation. But it also said the culture center was in a Burger King, not normally known for its museums, at least in the East.

Sure enough, though, the restaurant features a small but fascinating tribute to the Navajo men recruited by the Marines to convey messages in a made-up version of their language -- an unbreakable code that befuddled the Japanese. The exhibit contains Japanese army and American uniforms and weapons, several photos, and a copy of the code talker presidential commendation signed by Ronald Reagan in 1981.

Upon reading a framed copy of an article about the code talkers, the reason for the exhibit became clear. King Mike did his duty for a country that decades before had fought his people. Many years later, his son came to own three area Burger Kings. Richard Mike wanted to honor his father and his fellow Navajos, so crucial to Guadalcanal, Saipan, Iwo Jima and other Pacific battles.

And a desert Burger King, with a poster outside the bathrooms detailing Navajo medicinal plants, came to serve more than Double Whoppers.