Cracking time in Arizona

When the film U-571 came out, you'd have been forgiven for thinking it was the Americans who were responsible for cracking the Enigma code.

Then, last year's film, Enigma, corrected us - it was the British, after all. The Poles, who were the first to break the Enigma code, passing on their findings to British intelligence at Bletchley Park, were ignored. It's a situation the Navajo indians of south-west America, hope won't be repeated.

A new film, Windtalkers, directed by John (Mission Impossible 2) Woo and starring Nicolas Cage, reveals the story of the Navajo "code-talkers", 400 men who played a crucial role in the Pacific campaign in the Second World War.

Existing codes used by the Allies proved difficult to learn and use, and risked being broken by the Japanese, many of whom could speak English. The Navajo language - little known and only written down in the 1940s - proved perfect. Words were invented: submarines became "iron fish", grenades became "potatoes". Code-talkers became invaluable on the front line, in the decisive battle for the island of Iwo Jima, sending more than 800 messages without a single error. Yet there was no recognition at the end of the war, partly because the code might still need to be used and partly because white Americans simply did not consider it necessary to recognise the role of Mexicans, Native Americans or Afro-Caribbeans.

To reach Navajo land you drive several hours from Phoenix, Arizona. It's hard to tell from the landscape when you've entered the Reservation (Navajo Nation, as the Navajos call it), though it's proclaimed on everything man-made, from bumper plates to road signs.

Covering 27,000 square miles of high desert and high Ponderosa pine forest, the Navajo reservation is the largest Native American reservation in the US. They've been there for at least 500 years, but Spanish words best describe the landscape - the flat, drystream beds are arroyos; the flat-topped rocks mesas (tables). Few museums are devoted to Navajo history, and only one to the code-talkers. It was assembled by Richard Mike, son of code-talker King Mike in the Burger King he owns in Kayenta.

"My dad never spoke about the war," explains Mike. " Anything I learned, I heard from a friend of his. But the one time I showed him an old postcard I'd found of Mount Suibachi on Iwo Jima, his eyes filled with tears. After that I got more interested in what had happened, read up about it, and then set up this display. I think he was very proud of it just as we're all proud of what the Navajos did over there."

Kayenta is mainly used by visitors as a base for visiting nearby Monument National Park. The town has the large, wide-open skies that come with its altitude (over 5,000 ft), a shopping mall, a few motels and Richard Mike's Burger King.

The exhibits are mementos that Mike's father brought back from the war and kept in a trunk for 50 years. People head straight for the cabinets, examining every gun and bayonet before ordering their food. If Richard Mike has his way, this is only the start.

The first fruits of his planned Navajo Museum are outside next to the parking lot. They are traditional Navajo homes, like an igloo, but slightly larger and made of adobe, echoing the ancestral relationship between the Navajos and the Dene people of Alaska.

Despite appallingly harsh conditions - "The flies were so big they could carry you away" - the Navajos had been toughened by reservation life and made good soldiers. At dinner three code-talkers - Merrel Sandoval, Mike Kiyanni and Teddy Draper Snr, aged between 76 and 83 - tell how happy they are to see that the Navajos are finally getting the recognition they deserve. Something the film and the new museum will certainly enhance.

? Windtalkers is released in August.

Way to go

TOM Otley flew to Phoenix with British Airways (0845 7733377), which flies direct daily from Gatwick, returns in September from £497.50. AmeriCan and Worldwide Travel (01892 511894; awwt.co.uk) tailor-makes trips. A sevennight tour of Phoenix, the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley and Canyon de Chelly costs from £920 in September, including car hire and accommodation, flights extra. Further information from the Arizona Tourist Board website www. arizonaguide. com or for a brochure call 07626 946 334.