Newtyle residents say their village war memorial has been “desecrated”.
The 19-foot obelisk was built by public subscription following the First World War by John Gray & Sons, to a design by George Carnegie of Dundee, and was renovated to include the names of those who died in the Second World War.
But loose sods of turf left by BT Openreach engineers after work on a broadband exchange have left villagers fuming.
Peter Robertson said the local authority had made two approaches to the telecommunications giant, with little success.
“They arrived just before Christmas and it was meant to be on the footpath but the engineers put it on the mound of grass next to the war memorial and they’ve made a really poor job of it,” he said. “Some of the grass has been replaced but they’ve just put one divot on top of the other.”
Local councillor Major Ronnie Proctor, secretary of The Black Watch Association, appealed to BT Openreach to “make good” their work.
“BT’s communications folk have been there and they’ve left it in a tip,” he said.
“Telecoms equipment has to be put in, that’s the modern world, but they should make good their work. The council has been in touch with them two or three times and there has been no response.
“There are lots of people who gave their lives during the war. In this time, when we are marking 100 years since the Great War, for them to come and desecrate this memorial BT should get a grip.”
The war memorial, unveiled by the Earl of Strathmore in 1920, has panels commemorating the names of all those killed in action in both world wars.
One famous Newtyle resident, Alfred Anderson, was the last member of the British Expeditionary Force the Old Contemptibles and the sole remaining survivor of the “Christmas truce” of 1914.
Mr Anderson died in 2005, aged 108, and pleaded with authorities to clean the memorial in 2001 getting his way.
A spokeswoman for BT Openreach said: “We are aware of the complaint and a team in the area will look into it. We apologise for any inconvenience.”