1. Ib Melchior was born and raised in Copenhagen, Denmark, the son of Lauritz Ib Melchior, an opera singer.
12 Facts About Ib Melchior
1. 2.
Ib Melchior served in the Counterintelligence Corps during World War II, getting his training at Camp Ritchie in Maryland which classifies him as one of the Ritchie Boys.
3.
Ib Melchior participated in the liberation of Flossenburg 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.
4.
Ib Melchior was involved in a long legal battle involving his father's estate, Chossewitz in Brandenburg, Germany, which was confiscated by the communist government of East Germany and never returned.
5.
Ib 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.
6.
Ib Melchior's novels include Code Name: Grand Guignol, Eva, The Haigerloch Project, The Marcus Device, Order of Battle: Hitler's Werewolves, Sleeper Agent, The Tombstone Cipher and The Watchdogs of Abaddon.
7.
Ib Melchior's non-fiction includes the books Quest: Searching for Germany's Nazi Past and Lauritz Melchior: The Golden Years of Bayreuth, the latter a biography of his father, the opera singer and movie star Lauritz Melchior.
8.
In 1993 Ib Melchior published an account of his career as a staff sergeant with the US Counterintelligence Corps during World War II, Case by Case: A US Army Counterintelligence Agent in World War II.
9.
Ib Melchior wrote Hour of Vengeance, a play based on the Viking story of Amled that inspired William Shakespeare's play Hamlet.
10.
Ib Melchior wrote the screenplay for the Pacific War action film Ambush Bay as well as writing and directing an anti-marijuana short subject Keep Off the Grass.
11.
Ib Melchior claimed to have originated the ideas for both Lost in Space and Star Trek, which were subsequently appropriated, without credit or compensation, by Irwin Allen and Gene Roddenberry, respectively.
12.
The similarities between Allen's and Ib Melchior's works moved Gold Key to mull legal action against the former.