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Melchior, Ib Jørgen (32909534): Difference between revisions

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|surname=Melchior
|surname=Melchior
|first=Ib
|first=Ib
|middle=J.
|middle=Jørgen
|class_number=10
|class_number=10
|class_section=5C
|class_section=5C
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|overseas=Y
|overseas=Y
|birth_date=17 September 1917
|birth_date=17 September 1917
|death_date=March 14, 2015
|death_date=14 March 2015
|birth_place=Copenhagen, Denmark
|birth_place=Copenhagen, Denmark
|death_place=West Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
|death_place=West Hollywood, California
|alias=Ib Jørgen Melchior
|alias=Ib Jørgen Melchior
|rank_final=T/3
|awards=Bronze Star Medal
|awards_grid=Bronze Star Medal
|awards_ribbons=Ribbon_Bronze_Star_Medal_ribbon.png
|awards_ribbon_rows=Ribbon_Bronze_Star_Medal_ribbon.png
|teams=MII 425-G
}}
}}


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Ib Jørgen Melchior (September 17, 1917 – March 14, 2015) was a Danish-American novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and film director of low-budget American science fiction movies, most of them released by American International Pictures.
'''Ib Jørgen Melchior''' (17 September 1917&ndash;14 March 2015) was a Danish-American screenwriter and Camp Ritchie [[Class 10]] MII / CIC veteran (Team 425-G) awarded the Bronze Star.
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== Biography ==
== Biography ==
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.


Ib Jørgen Melchior (September 17, 1917 – March 14, 2015) was a Danish-American novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and film director of low-budget American science fiction movies, most of them released by American International Pictures.
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.
 
Melchior was born and raised in Copenhagen, Denmark, the son of Lauritz Melchior, an opera singer. during World War II, getting his training at Camp Ritchie in Maryland which classifies him as one of the Ritchie Boys. He also participated in the liberation of Flossenbürg concentration camp as well as the discovery of stolen currency, gold and art at Merkers-Kieselbach Cavern, and the capture of a Werwolf unit in 1945, for which he was awarded the Bronze Star. which was confiscated by the communist government of East Germany and never returned.
 
In 1965, a decorated war hero, he was dubbed Knight Commander of the Militant Order of Saint Bridget of Sweden.
 
In 1976, the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films awarded Ib Melchior its Golden Scroll Award of Merit for Outstanding Achievement.
 
Biographies include Ib Melchior: Man of Imagination by Robert Skotak, as well as Melchior's own autobiography Case by Case: A U.S. Army Counterintelligence Agent in World War II.
 
Melchior died of natural causes on March 14, 2015, at the age of 97, five months after the death of his wife of over 50 years, architect Cleo Baldon.
 


== Research notes ==
== Research notes ==
* CIC 212; OSS (OS) from 7/42
* CIC 212
* OSS (OS) from 7/42
* ASTP
* ASTP
* 425-G
* Novelist,
* Science fiction films
* MII 425-G + CIC 212
* Novelist, "Order of Battle"
* Bronze Star (Werewolf investigations memo 19 May 1945)
* Portrait and summary from Notable Ritchie Boys slides ([https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1EWiegWT3PMxAFXS7MZLxFFLMZg0265GK5_Axp_XnzWM source]).
* campaigns Normandy–Central Europe (Gross NARA notes)


== Gallery ==
== Gallery ==
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== Timeline ==
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed soldier-timeline">
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* July 1942 — Became member of OSS.
* 19 May 1943 — Drafted into Army in NYC as Pvt (ASN: 32909534).
* 21 January 1944 — Became naturalized U.S. citizen in Washington, DC.
* 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.
* ? Worked as cryptographer for OSS.
* Also assigned to OSS and CIC.
* Also attached to CIC Detachment 212 (XII Corps).
* Assigned to MII Team 425-G attached to XII Corps.
* Awarded Bronze Star Medal.
* Captured buried SS records in Regensburg.
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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''
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ib_Melchior Wikipedia: Ib Melchior]
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ib_Melchior Wikipedia: Ib Melchior]
* Camp Ritchie class roster (classes 1–31), merged research file
* Camp Ritchie Museum, Inc. (The Ritchie History Museum), Classes 1–31 roster data
* Dan Gross research spreadsheets, including original Excel timeline/roster work, combined with other research and records
* NARA World War II Army enlistment records (where a NARA ASN is present)
* NARA World War II Army enlistment records (where a NARA ASN is present)
* 1940 U.S. Census (where a census match is present)
* 1940 U.S. Census (where a census match is present)
* Dan Gross, ''Timeline of Ib J. Melchior for Camp Ritchie'' (private research document; 3 source documents reviewed)
* Dan Gross, ''Timeline of Melchior, Ib J. for Camp Ritchie'' (private research files; selected non-private narrative findings; 3 source files: IB J. MELCHIOR (2020).doc, IB J. MELCHIOR.doc, IB J. MELCHIOR.docx)
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