National Archives to Open Service Records

The national archives will open its National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis Saturday, which will allow the public to view the view the military service records of Jimi Hendrix, Elvis, and George S. Patton. Also available will be the personnel files of more than 100 million veterans and federal workers who left the government before 1973, The Washington Post’s blog the Federal Eye reported.

The facility, which can house 2.3 million cubic feet of the government’s military and civilian employee personnel records, has preservation laboratories and two public research rooms. Visitors can ask to review personnel records or get copies of their own, the Post reported.

Before the opening, the center is putting on display the military files of baseball great Jackie Robinson, an Army second lieutenant; Elvis Presley; Hendrix, who was discharged after serving just a year in the Army for a number of offenses, including sleeping on the job; “Roots” author Alex Haley; and poet Jack Kerouac, a 10-month-Navy veteran.