WAILUKU, Maui — A long-awaited education center dedicated to celebrating the legacy of Japanese-American World War II veterans will finally be built after more than two decades of planning and fundraising.

Gov. Linda Lingle released a $750,000 grant Friday for construction of the 2,100-square-foot center in Wailuku.

The money will be used to finish the Maui Nisei Veterans Memorial Center, which completed construction last year on an intergenerational daycare facility that provides services for both the aging World War II generation and children.

The education center will include a classroom, an extensive collection of books, veterans' oral histories and photographs.

"It's been a hard struggle," said Hiroshi Arisumi, the president of the memorial center and a veteran of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. "But we finally get to see the end of the project."

It will be used as a resource for community members, historians and Maui schoolchildren.

The children of Japanese immigrants to the United States, the nisei, faced discrimination during the 1940s after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor.

While Japanese-American families were forced into internment camps across the U.S., the nisei showed their patriotism by volunteering for the 100th Infantry Battalion, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and the Military Intelligence Service.

By the end of World War II, the 442nd was the most highly decorated unit of its size in Army history.

"This center is sort of like a lifetime achievement award," said memorial center Executive Director Barbara Watanabe. "We now have enough funding to complete the project."

Construction on the education center, which also provides a permanent home for thousands of artifacts, could begin early next year.

It will be on 2.02 acres donated by Alexander & Baldwin in 1992.

The state funding rounds out a $1.3 million capital campaign that was started by volunteers more than 20 years ago.

Another $300,000 was given by Maui County, and private donors contributed $300,000 more.