Melchior, Ib Jørgen (32909534): Difference between revisions
Add MII 425-G / CIC 212 field reports and Bronze Star support from Gross notes |
Biography enrichment from Wikipedia (merged with existing sources) |
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|surname=Melchior | |surname=Melchior | ||
|first=Ib | |first=Ib | ||
|middle= | |middle=Jørgen | ||
|class_number=10 | |class_number=10 | ||
|class_section=5C | |class_section=5C | ||
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|death_date=14 March 2015 | |death_date=14 March 2015 | ||
|birth_place=Copenhagen, Denmark | |birth_place=Copenhagen, Denmark | ||
|death_place=West Hollywood | |death_place=West Hollywood, California | ||
|alias=Ib Jørgen Melchior | |alias=Ib Jørgen Melchior | ||
|rank_final=T/3 | |rank_final=T/3 | ||
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<div class="soldier-lead"> | <div class="soldier-lead"> | ||
Ib Jørgen Melchior (September | '''Ib Jørgen Melchior''' (17 September 1917–14 March 2015) was a Danish-American screenwriter and Camp Ritchie [[Class 10]] MII / CIC veteran (Team 425-G) awarded the Bronze Star. | ||
</div> | </div> | ||
== Biography == | == Biography == | ||
Melchior was born | Ib Jørgen Melchior was born on 17 September 1917 in Copenhagen, Denmark, the son of opera singer Lauritz Melchior. Before and during the war he worked as a stage manager (including at Radio City Music Hall) and as a news broadcaster in Europe. Research notes record OSS service from July 1942. He was drafted into the Army in New York City on 19 May 1943 (ASN 32909534), became a naturalized U.S. Citizen in Washington, D.C., on 21 January 1944, and trained at [[Camp Ritchie]], Maryland, in [[Class 10]]. | ||
In the field he served on [[Team MII 425-G|MII Team 425-G]] (constituted 29 November 1944; attached to Twelfth Army Group / XII Corps, Third Army), working with CIC Detachment 212. Teammates included [[Arnstein, Felix P. (0552515)|Felix P. Arnstein]] and [[Lowenstein, Kurt (32888834)|Kurt Lowenstein]]. In a March 1948 ''Blue Book'' magazine article Melchior described Camp Ritchie IPW training and a 28 April 1945 CIC screening case at Weiden, Germany, in which Order of Battle knowledge from his IPW course helped expose a false deserter. Team reports under his name cover ammunition depots, underground factories, fortifications, and a V-2 site near Baumholder; a 19 May 1945 memo by Arnstein on Melchior’s Werewolf investigations supported his Bronze Star. Accounts also associate him with the liberation of Flossenbürg and the Merkers-Kieselbach treasure discovery. | |||
After the war Melchior became a novelist, screenwriter, and director of low-budget science-fiction films, writing and directing ''The Angry Red Planet'' (1959) and ''The Time Travelers'' (1964). His novels include ''Order of Battle: Hitler's Werewolves'', ''The Haigerloch Project'', and ''Sleeper Agent'', and in 1993 he published his wartime memoir, ''Case by Case: A U.S. Army Counterintelligence Agent in World War II''; he also wrote a biography of his father. He was made a Knight Commander of the Militant Order of Saint Bridget of Sweden in 1965 and received the Golden Scroll Award of Merit from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films in 1976. He was married for more than fifty years to the architect Cleo Baldon, who died five months before him. He died of natural causes on 14 March 2015 in West Hollywood, California, aged 97. | |||
== Research notes == | == Research notes == | ||
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* OSS (OS) from 7/42 | * OSS (OS) from 7/42 | ||
* ASTP | * ASTP | ||
* Novelist, | * Novelist, | ||
* MII 425-G + CIC 212 | |||
* Bronze Star (Werewolf investigations memo 19 May 1945) | |||
* MII 425-G + CIC 212 | * campaigns Normandy–Central Europe (Gross NARA notes) | ||
== Gallery == | == Gallery == | ||
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* 21 January 1944 — Became naturalized U.S. citizen in Washington, DC. | * 21 January 1944 — Became naturalized U.S. citizen in Washington, DC. | ||
* 3 December 1944 — Assigned to MII Team 425-G attached to XII Corps. | * 3 December 1944 — Assigned to MII Team 425-G attached to XII Corps. | ||
* 1959 — Wrote and directed ''The Angry Red Planet''. | |||
* 1993 — Published ''Case by Case: A U.S. Army Counterintelligence Agent in World War II''. | |||
* ? Promoted to T/3. | * ? Promoted to T/3. | ||
* ? Worked as cryptographer for OSS. | * ? Worked as cryptographer for OSS. | ||
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== Sources == | == Sources == | ||
* Ib Melchior, article in ''Blue Book'' magazine, vol. 86 no. 5 (March 1948) — first-person account of Camp Ritchie IPW training and CIC/OB case at Weiden, 28 April 1945 (RB Archive PDF) | |||
* Dan Gross research archive (miscellaneous timeline-adjacent documents; not uploaded): ''IB MELCHIOR Reports.doc'' | * Dan Gross research archive (miscellaneous timeline-adjacent documents; not uploaded): ''IB MELCHIOR Reports.doc'' | ||
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ib_Melchior Wikipedia: Ib Melchior] | * [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ib_Melchior Wikipedia: Ib Melchior] | ||