A grieving mother has opened up about her emotional ordeal after finding a large metal box on top of her son’s grave.
Diane Douglas was trying to pay respects to her son on his death anniversary when she arrived at his grave only to find a large soil box sitting on top of his resting place.
As the Scottish mom from Aberdeen revealed, her son, Lance Corporal Allan Douglas, was a war hero who died while serving in Iraq more than a decade ago.
When she and the rest of the family paid a visit to the young man’s grave during his recent anniversary of death, the were left “shocked” and “raging” after finding a large metal container on top of his grave.
According to the mother, this wasn’t the first Dyce Cemetery workers blocked her son’s resting place with a soil box. To make matters worse, they did so on the death anniversary of her son.
“I’m still in shock about what I saw and absolutely raging about the fact it has happened again,” Diane said.
“We came a couple of years ago on his anniversary and saw the box, and now we have gone up again and the box is stood on top of everything.
“I know people need to be buried but surely they can read the front of the headstone and realize it is the anniversary and that their relatives would more than likely visit that day.”
As the upset mother added, the incident left her feeling “let down” and disappointed.
“It is a beautiful graveyard but to see that box on top of the grave when I’m trying to pay my respects to my son, it is completely out-of-hand,” she added.
Following the outrage, the city council responded by apologizing for causing harm to the family while defending the work that was being done in the area around young Douglas’s grave.
“We were sorry to hear of the upset caused to the family by unavoidable grave digging works carried out at the side of Mr Douglas’ resting place,” a spokesperson for the council said.
“The box in question is a soil box which is required for the digging of the grave. This is common practice in cemeteries across the country and a similar box would have been laid on the adjoining graves when Mr Douglas’ grave was being prepared.
“Our workers have no option but to walk either side of the grave as part of the gravedigging process which takes between two and three days. We would like to reassure the family that the site will be restored once the burial has taken place.”
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