AN ENGINEERING boss has told how his heroic lieutenant father inspired a successful career building major projects at home and around the world.

Jon Orrell, managing director of Hemsley Orrell Partnership, based in Hove, is the son of Major Bob Orrell, who captured a command post of German officers in Normandy during the Second World War.

Jon did not learn of his father’s heroism until the 50th anniversary of the war but benefited from his Royal Engineer background and a French connection throughout a successful career.

On June 5, 1944 British troops left Shoreham Port to take on the German’s Atlantic Wall – known as Sword Beach – stretching from Ouistreham to St Aubin on the Normandy coastline. Lieutenant Orrell and two others blew open the doors of a bunker and took 53 German officers and men inside as prisoners.

Jon said: “He never told anyone what he had done, all these stories came out.

“On the 51st anniversary there were people wearing T-shirts with his face on.

“I was amazed and immensely proud.

“He would say he did no more than anyone else would have done.”

He was much younger when Major Orrell’s acts indirectly inspired a career in engineering.

Jon said: “When he broke open the bunker he liberated a lovely set of drawing instruments, which is the kind I learnt to draw with.

“He also encouraged me to get into engineering and get a degree.

“I wrote to all the polytechnics and Brighton was the only place that offered me an interview.

“He helped me start up the firm and even worked with us for a while.”

Hemsley Orrell Partnership is working on projects including the Newhaven Eastside road, the new University Technical College at Newhaven, Brighton Marina, Palace Pier, the Brighton Station site and numerous schools and colleges around Brighton and Hove and Sussex.

Jon has also built up a French connection at the firm, boosted by frequent trips to Normandy.

Jon said: “I go over three or four times a year. We’ve got French speakers in the firm, I’ve lived in France and we’ve had jobs come about with the museums because of the Normandy connection.”

The connection goes further, with Hemsley Orrell Partnership working with Shoreham Port, which played a crucial role in the war effort.

It was a port of embarkation in 1944 with a landing craft base established in Shoreham and Hove at Baltic Wharf and Aldrington Basin in 1942.

The base was given the ship’s name of HMS Lizard and along with sister establishment HMS Newt, at Newhaven, was the central base for Royal Marine and Royal Navy training in preparation for the now infamous Dieppe raid.

More than 50,000 marines and sailors had trained at HMS Lizard by D-Day.

A book about Major Bob Orrell’s story, The Regimental Piano, was recently published and is available by emailing orders@booksource.net or calling 0845 370 0067.