COLMA - After filming the movie "Saving Private Ryan," Tom Hanks set out on a mission to raise funds for a National World War II Memorial to be located in Washington, D.C. Hanks was not alone. Groups sprang up throughout the country trying to raise funds to construct local memorials.

A group of Marin County veterans formed the World War II Memorial Fund, began raising money and got the Board of Supervisors to approve building the monument at the Marin Civic Center. But it wasn't until the group enlisted the help of one of the only granite manufacturing companies left in the world, to design and construct the monument, that they realized their dream monument was going to be a reality.

V. Fontana and Co. is a family business passed down from generation to generation. They've been creating fine marble and granite products in Colma since 1921.

Mark Fontana's grandfather started the business and now he and his father, Elio, work to keep the last independent-

ly owned manufacturing plant on the West Coast up and running. "My grandfather started it and my dad went and fought in World War II and when he came home, he ran it. It's the last of its kind. There are only eight others in the country," said Fontana.

Erma Parson, spokesperson for the WWII Memorial Fund, said that as soon as they paid a visit to Fontana they knew it was the right company for the job.

"We had visited other companies, but when we hit Mark, we knew we hit the right person. His dad went home and designed the monument and we are very pleased with it," said Parsons.

The memorial will stand 15 feet tall, made from a local California light Sierra granite. There will be a dark granite plaque more than four feet high and about three feet wide.

The five insignias representing the armed services of World War II will be engraved in the plque. The memorial will have vertical fluted columns, giving the