Freddie Keahi remembers what it felt like to see a car pull up to his family’s Ewa Beach home in 1968 and hear the news: His 18-year-old brother, Gene Keahi, had been killed in the Vietnam War.

Freddie Keahi was 13 years old.

"I took it really hard because it was only me and him," Keahi said. "It took me years to get over it."

Gene Keahi is buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl, and Freddie Keahi was excited to hear that by Veterans Day 2012, the American Battle Monuments Commission hopes to have added Vietnam War battle maps to the Honolulu Memorial, to complement the existing World War II and Korean War battle maps.

The Vietnam maps will be in one of two new memorial pavilions flanking the cemetery’s iconic Lady Columbia statue.

"It’s good to let the younger generation know what that generation had to go through and where it all took place," Freddie Keahi said.

The boys’ dad, Luther Keahi, 85, also fought in Vietnam.

"I like it," the elder Keahi said of the plan to add the Vietnam maps. "Whatever it involves, I’m for it."

The Honolulu Memorial — the gleaming white galleries and broad staircase that form the centerpiece of the cemetery — was dedicated in 1964. It was built to honor those missing in action from World War II’s Pacific theater and the Korean War, and contains wall-mounted battle maps commemorating famous battles, such as the Battle of Midway.

The memorial was expanded in 1980 to bear the names of the 2,504 missing service members from the Vietnam War, but battle maps were not included.

"The whole purpose is to appropriately honor the service and sacrifice of those that fought in Vietnam and in part those that are commemorated in the memorial itself (in the courts of the missing)," said Mike Conley, spokesman for the American Battle Monuments Commission.

The addition will consist of two free-standing pavilions added to each flank of the top of the memorial that will match the architectural style of the current structure.

The total estimated project cost is about $4 million, Conley said.

The left pavilion will serve as an orientation center for the entire memorial, while the one on the right side will house the new Vietnam battle maps.

Inside the right pavilion will be two maps: One will be of the Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia region. The other will zero in on South Vietnam and depict where many major battles and occupations took place.

The commission had to work closely with the state Historic Preservation Division and the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts to come up with the final design for the new pavilions.

"You have to ensure that you’re adding the Vietnam story to the memorial but at the same time you’re remaining sensitive to the historic nature of the memorial and the design," Conley said. "The objective is to come up with a design that everybody thinks is the right solution, and we think this is that right design."

The new maps will be constructed by the Armbruster Co., located outside Chicago, using the same artist, Mary Jacobs, and process used to create the existing maps.

"We were very fortunate in finding her, so there will be great consistency between all three sets of maps," Conley said of Jacobs.

Fung Associates Inc. of Honolulu is handling architectural work for the new pavilions.