PEARL HARBOR — U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye said over the past 17 years, he has been troubled by a sad fact.

The Hawai'i Democrat, who lost his right arm charging an enemy machine gun nest in World War II and later received the Medal of Honor, said a national poll was conducted in 1991 among high school seniors asking them about the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor.

"The results were just devastating to many of us," Inouye said.

More than half of the students polled had never heard of Pearl Harbor.

At a groundbreaking yesterday for a new $58 million USS Arizona Memorial visitor center and museum, officials stressed the importance of linking the past with the present, and pledged to do more to tell the story of Dec. 7 and the Pacific war, and to do it better.

Built in 1980, the current visitor center hosts about 1.5 million people annually at a facility designed to accommodate half that amount.

At the end of two years of construction, the National Park Service facility will include 6 more acres of land, bringing its total land area to 17.4 acres.

The new facility, at 23,600 square feet, will be nearly double the size of the current facility, and have an expanded and more comprehensive interpretation of the attack on Pearl Harbor and the war in the Pacific, officials said.

About 600 people attended yesterday's ceremony, which included a traditional blessing and ground-turning with Hawaiian o'o sticks.

"The World War II generation has taught us many valuable lessons — perhaps most importantly, to persevere in the face of incredible hardships," said Gov. Linda Lingle.

"These economic difficulties facing our nation now — they pale in comparison to Dec. 7, 1941. But we can follow the example of that era to overcome the challenges of today."

On the Day of Infamy, 2,390 American service members were killed, including 1,177 on the battleship USS Arizona.

Tangible connections between past and present were everywhere — not the least of which were the nine Pearl Harbor survivors who participated in the groundbreaking.

Hawai'i Air National Guard F-15 fighter jets turned overhead during the ceremony, and military activity continued at the Pearl Harbor Navy base behind the visitor center.

Among the survivors was Herb Weatherwax, who was in the 198th Infantry Regiment at Schofield Barracks, and witnessed Pearl Harbor swelling with smoke and airplanes destroyed and on fire at Wheeler Field.

Weatherwax, who volunteers several days a week at the visitor center by talking with tourists, said the new facility will be "wonderful."

"I hope that I live through it all," Weatherwax said. "I'm 91, but I look forward to being 100, so I'll be around when they finish it."

Ray Emory, 87, another survivor, remembered manning a 50-caliber machine gun on the USS Honolulu and seeing a Japanese plane explode just a few hundred yards away.

"It was hit by something big, because what happened was, it stopped in mid-air," Emory said. "It hadn't released a torpedo and it lit up like a Christmas tree. There was a big flash, and the prop came off and kept going through the air."

Emory wants the visitor center and museum, which is run by the National Park Service, to offer more detailed information, and suggested a flier a week on a different ship or base or where casualties were buried.

"Spread it (the information) out. Where did the planes crash?" Emory said.

A companion reason for the new visitor center and museum is that parts of the existing facility, built on fill material, have settled more than 30 inches, a full foot more than anticipated, allowing harbor water into the basement.

Watts Constructors LLC of Honolulu was awarded a $32.7 million contract in September for the construction portion of the project, and soon is expected to start doing some preliminary work.

Overall, the project is expected to total $58 million — a figure that recently was increased from a projected $54 million — with planning, architectural design and engineering, exhibit design and fabrication and other costs factored in, officials said.

The Pearl Harbor Memorial Fund campaign has raised $54.2 million, including $20 million from the federal government, $2 million from the state, $9.6 million from the National Park Service, $69,000 from the state of Arizona's memorial association, and $22.5 million from private individuals, corporations and foundations.

John Wolff, 68, who was visiting from New York, said he felt fortunate to be present for the groundbreaking.

"Knowing this is going to be built, I'd definitely want to come back and see the new (facility)," he said.