PROVO — A small but poignant exhibit covering the European and the Pacific Theater of World War II is on display at Brigham Young University.

"Remembering World War II: Pearl Harbor and Beyond," commemorates the 65th anniversary of the Japanese attack and the United States' war involvement.

Documents, letters from children and sweethearts of servicemen and photographs, along with other artifacts, offer insights into the American experience of the war, said Robert Freeman, a member of the BYU church history faculty and director of the "Saints at War" oral history project.

The exhibit is a natural outgrowth of the history project because so many veterans had artifacts from the war, he said.

Among the memorabilia is the Medal of Honor awarded posthumously to Capt. Mervyn Bennion of the battleship USS West Virginia that sank during the attack on Pearl Harbor. It is one of 15 awarded for bravery that day, Freeman said. Most were posthumous.

Though mortally wounded from shrapnel that flew from the nearby USS Tennessee, Bennion (of Vernon, Tooele County) continued to bark orders for several hours and refused treatment when others required it. When the bombing stopped, a rescue effort was launched to get Bennion, but the smoke and fire was too intense, Freeman said.

The display includes his funeral service program, his triple combination of LDS scripture and his copy of "Jesus the Christ" by James E. Talmage, damaged when he was hurt. The captain, a World War I veteran, was leaving for church when the Japanese struck. He was hit as he stepped out of the conning tower to assess the attack.

Other items include:

• A serviceman's Book of Mormon.

• LDS sacrament trays with spent shell casings for cups used by soldiers in battle.

• The picture and story of the Sardini Chapel LDS servicemen built in Italy and used for only five months in 1944.

• A variety of period military uniforms including a nurse's uniform.

• A Nazi banner and copy of "Mein Kampf," along with photos of gaunt prisoners held during the Holocaust.

• A U.S. flag created near the end of the war by Clarence Bramley, a survivor of the Bataan Death March.

An American flag made by a group of nuns also hangs in the exhibit. When a proper flag wasn't available to fly over a German cemetery the first Memorial Day following victory in Europe, Army Chaplain Charles "Harry" Washburn commissioned the flag. The blue came from a nun's habit, the stars from muslin sheets and the red stripes from a Nazi banner. (The nuns objected to the latter, but went ahead anyway, according to display information.)

Washburn paid the nuns 20 pounds of sugar and 50 pounds of flour for the flag.