TEMECULA - Johnny Rivera has taken his longtime interest in history and collecting G.I. Joe action figures to the elementary school where he works.

With the help of about 10 children from Helen Hunt Jackson Elementary School, where he is employed as a daytime custodian, the retired U.S. Navy sailor is building a display that depicts a rescue scene from the Vietnam war.

"A lot of kids are into visuals, so hopefully when they see this it will spark their interest and they'll want to read or learn more about history," Rivera, 48, said.

"Maybe this will make them want to do something creative and more hands-on instead of playing video games all the time," he added.

The display is being built on a 3-foot-by-6-foot piece of plywood and will be about 3-feet high when finished in time for Veterans Day.

It will be a beachfront scene with the crew of a Navy boat rescuing a downed pilot. With mountains and palm trees in the background, the shoreline will have a Vietnamese man in a hut as a Vietnamese woman watches the rescue from a canoe in the water, Rivera said.

Each of the children taking part in the creation will be required to write an essay, either about what Veterans Day means to them or about a relative in the military.

On Monday, many of the children gathered at the school to start plastering and gluing.

Lorenzo Sorapuru, a 9-year-old fourth-grader, was among them and was happily helping out.

"I think it's a good thing to show what the war was like and what it looked like and what they had to go through," the youngster said. "And we're having fun."

Lorenzo said his father was in the military and that's who he will be writing his essay about.

The youngster learned about the after-school activity when he saw some friends with "Mr. Johnny" at school one day.

"I ran up to see what they were doing and asked if I could help out too," he said.

"I'm excited that I get to be with my friends and do an activity, because I don't get to spend much time with them," Lorenzo said.

When the work is all done, it will be displayed in the front office area of the school for all to see.

"I like history and watch a lot of military movies," said Rivera, who has collected military action figures for years.

"This is a hobby for me and I like to share it with the kids," he said. "And, hopefully, this will help them not forget about the past."

- Contact staff writer John Hall at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2628, or jhall@californian.com.