LAGUNA NIGUEL : Federal Building Has World War II Exhibit

A handwritten letter from a teen-age Navy midshipman named George Bush, requesting a commission, and records salvaged from the sunken battleship Arizona are among World War II-era documents on exhibit at the Chet Holifield Federal Building.

Glimpses into the minds of soldiers and leaders during the war are contained in the reproductions of military morning reports, photos, unit diaries and logs culled from the archives of the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis.

The free exhibit, entitled “A People at War,” is part of the National Archives commemoration of the service of military personnel and civilians during World War II.

Amid the more than 50 papers is a log entry made by a Pearl Harbor medical officer during the surprise Japanese attack, a letter inviting Albert Einstein to work for the U.S. government and the battleship Missouri’s log for the day of the Japanese surrender in 1945.

The exhibit will be on display weekdays, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., through July 2 on the south side of the second floor of the Holifield building at 24000 Avila Road in Laguna Niguel.

For more information, call Sharon Roadway at the Federal Records Center at (714) 643-4220. To get additional information on related programs commemorating World War II--such as lectures, publications, workshops and films--call the public affairs office of the National Archives at (202) 501-5525.