Littleton Monument Co. Creates Memorial For Overseas Fallen Vets

LITTLETON, CO -- Eight granite pillars will be unveiled Saturday at the Colorado Freedom Memorial near Buckley Air Force Base to represent eight U.S. foreign cemeteries where American troops were interred during World Wars I and II.

The pillars, made of Colorado Rose Red granite, commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of WWI in 1918, and the fifth anniversary of Aurora's privately run Colorado Freedom Memorial, 756 Telluride St., Aurora.

Each four-foot 1,000 lb. pillar will have a soil sample placed inside from 26 U.S. military cemeteries in Belgium, England, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the Philippines and Tunisia, where U.S. overseas troops are buried.

"Rick Crandall, who runs the Freedom Memorial, wanted to create something to bring his vision of 'bringing the soldiers home,'" said Littleton's Tara Valgoi, owner of Mile High Memorials.

Designer Emily Easton and Crandall worked to come up with the idea of interring soil from foreign cemeteries "inside that Colorado granite, to remind local veterans' family members of their love for Colorado," Valgoi said. The memorial is called From Hallowed Ground to Home's Embrace and "symbolically brings Colorado's fallen from WWI and WWII back home to their families and native homeland," a press release said.

After Saturday's ceremony, the hole in each pillar will be capped with a bronze cap featuring various military insignias. Colorado Rose Red granite is quarried at a family business outside of Lyons, and is the only granite native to the state.

Telling family stories

Valgoi, a former tech company VP, said she and her husband sought a better lifestyle for their family and young children when they bought Mile High Memorials, two years ago. The company started in 1991 and is located in Historic Downtown Littleton.

No longer carved with hand tools, designs on granite headstones can now be made as intricate or simple as desired, aided by computerized stencils and cutting tools.

And, as Baby Boomers are dying, the memorial headstone business is becoming more of a creative endeavor. Clients want to recreate photographic portraits, images of a favorite hobby or a image from a person's tattoo, a quilt block or even a signature she said.

"That's why it's so important to have Emily, a professional designer, on the staff."

One of the oddest images they've been asked to create in stone?

"An angel eating a hamburger," laughed Valgoi. Even as more people are choosing cremation for their final remains, there is still a market for something permanent. "We make a lot of memorial benches or memorials inside a home," Valgoi said.

Sometimes they carve headstones for family members long-dead.

"We had a woman whose pioneer uncle came to Denver in the 1860s and is buried at Riverside Cemetery who never had a headstone. She ordered one for him too."

The family has never regretted the decision to jump into the memorial business, and don't see it as morbid at all.

"I knew the minute we walked in here that this business would give something back to the community," Valgoi said. "Every day my kids ask me, 'Whose story did you tell today,' and that's a really good feeling."

Events at Colorado Freedom Memorial For Saturday, May 26:

Starting at 8 a.m. with a pancake breakfast, there will be a full day of activities, ceremony, reenactments and concerts, all honoring generations of Colorado’s fallen veterans as well as those still serving today. Pancake Breakfast: 8 – 9:30 a.m.

Colorado Freedom Memorial 5th Anniversary Ceremony: 10 – 11:30 a.m.

This year’s remembrance ceremony will pay tribute to the veterans remembered on the glass panels of the Memorial, include tributes, military ceremony, fly-overs from Buckley Air Force Base, and reflect the proud tradition of service to country demonstrated by every generation. The remembrance ceremony will also feature a performance by the Sound of the Rockies A Capella Men’s Chorus and 101st Army Band of the Colorado National Guard.

Celebration Events: 11:30 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Following the official ceremony, attendees are invited to tour the Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association Traveling Museum, a special display by the Military Vehicle Collectors of Colorado, enjoy music performances by The Beverly Belles Vintage Singing Trio and Band plus the America the Beautiful Men’s Barbershop Chorus and purchase food and drinks from the Jake and Joel’s BBQ food truck.

Image via Colorado Freedom Memorial