One Stone’s Story

January 5, 2005

Captain Michael Tarlavsky was my girlfriend’s brother. He was killed in Najaf, Iraq, on Aug. 12, 2004, leading his unit during a raid against insurgents.
“Michael embodied the motto ‘Lead from the front,’” says Elina, his sister (and my girlfriend). “That was literally what he was doing when he died.”
Michael’s father and grandfather had been soldiers in Russia, and he continued the tradition in this country by enlisting in the U.S. Army straight out of college. He rose to the rank of Captain in the Special Forces, fought in Afghanistan, and was on his second tour in Iraq when his unit came under fire in Najaf. Several hours before the attack, he instant-messaged Elina to say he was “as safe as can be expected.”
Before being deployed, Michael spoke with his wife, Tricia, (also an army captain) about his wish to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery if he was killed in action.
Last Aug. 24, he received a full military funeral and was buried in Arlington, just as he requested.
Even before the funeral, Tricia had a close connection to Arlington. Her first army assignment was serving in the 3rd U.S. Infantry Division – the “Old Guard” – and the unit responsible for guarding the Tomb of the Unknowns and escorting deceased Army service members to their final rest.
“This was my first home in the Army,” she says. “I never thought I would come full circle.”
Now, it was up to Granite Industries of Vermont to produce his memorial for his final resting place.
As part of a $3 million contract with the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Barre, Vt.-based company will produce about 20,000 upright marble headstones this year for government cemeteries. Most memorialize veterans of World War II, who are dying at a rate of about 1,100 a day. Some are replacement stones honoring soldiers as far back as the Civil War.
Granite Industries is producing roughly 400 memorials a week for the various governmental burial grounds across the country. Along with firms in Georgia and Mississippi, it’s one of three companies nationwide that manufacture approximately 63,000 white marble grave markers annually for members of the armed services. According to the National Cemetery Administration, a government agency, about 1,800 U.S. veterans pass away every day.
Everyone at Granite Resources of Vermont realizes the importance of their work.
“We take a great deal of pride in the work we do for the Veterans Administration,” says Jeff Martell, co-cwner of Granite Industries. “It has taken on a whole new meaning with the war in Iraq. It really brings it home.”
Martell says that the Veterans Administration is making sure that the veterans are properly honored. “We already have a very high standard of quality control for our other work, but for these memorials, it is even higher,” says Martell. He says that they have a rejection rate on the stone of more than 40 percent.
That is why the stone chosen for the memorials has to be very high quality. Martell says that the memorials are crafted from both Danby White Marble and Georgia Marble’s Cherokee White.
“It is an honor for us to be one of the suppliers of the stone for the memorials,” says Patrick Perus, president of Georgia Marble. “We are very proud that the stone we quarry can be used in the tribute to individual U.S. veterans.”
Georgia Marble supplies enough marble for at least 40,000 headstones a year – approximately 4,225 tons a year or 50,000 cubic feet.
“I think I speak on behalf of all of the families who have lost loved ones in Iraq when I thank Granite Industries of Vermont for the work they have done on the memorials,” says Elina. “When Michael’s 1-year-old son Joey went to visit his father’s graveside at Arlington, he had a beautiful stone monument to see there.”
Gregg Wallis is an Account Executive/Journalist with Communicators International. Before joining Communicators, he was managing editor of Stone magazine. Information for this article was taken from the Los Angeles Times.