Question: Whatever happened to the development of the Nisei Veterans Memorial Center on Maui honoring Americans of Japanese Ancestry who fought during World War II?

Answer: The grand opening of the final portion of the complex is scheduled for April 13.

The new two-story structure will house a top-floor pavilion and a first-floor Education Center storing and displaying items related to the history of Japanese-American soldiers serving the United States during World War II.

The center was built to honor Japanese-American veterans of the Military Intelligence Service, the 1399th Engineer Construction Battalion, the 100th Battalion, and 442nd Infantry Regimental Combat Team.

The 442nd, which later included the 100th Battalion, fought in a number of battles in Italy and France and rescued a Texas regiment that had been surrounded by Germans in the Vosges forest.

The 442nd is considered to be the most decorated infantry regiment of its size and length of service in the history of the United States, with 21 of its members awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism. Some of their families had been taken from their homes and confined to internment camps as suspicious citizens.

Center co-founder Hiroshi Arisumi said he became involved in helping to develop the complex because he wanted people to remember those Japanese-American soldiers who were killed and never returned home, many from Maui and other neighbor islands.

A bronze plaque at the center displays the names of the soldiers who served in the nisei units and died during the war — men like Kauai resident and UH graduate Daniel Betsui and Maui carpenter Takeshi Shigehara.

"They never got to enjoy life," said Arisumi, 92, a retired building contractor who was in the regiment’s 232nd Engineer Company.

The first phase of the center, completed about seven years ago, included the development of two buildings — one that houses a branch of Maui Adult Day Care Centers and the other the Kansha Preschool.

Leonard Oka, whose group Sons and Daughters of Nisei Veterans helped to begin the fundraising for the center, said the complex was intended to serve the young and old as an intergenerational day care center.

"We felt it was the best direction to go to serve the community," he said. "In Japanese culture, the elderly and young are very important."

The second phase of development, including 4,200 square feet of floor space, cost about $1.4 million.

The development of the entire complex totaled several million dollars — an amount that required supporters to design the project in phases, with income-generating day care activities starting first to help to maintain the buildings, center officials said.

Oka said many businesses and individuals contributed to the development of the center, including the more than 2,000 members of his group and Alexander & Baldwin, which donated the center’s initial 2 acres and also made monetary donations.

Arisumi said he’s watched preschool children and the elderly at the center enjoy themselves at special events. "It seems to have worked out really well. That kind of thing makes it worthwhile."