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,[3] for which he was awarded the Bronze Star.

[6] 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.

Melchior's 1956 short story "The Racer" was adapted as Paul Bartel's cult film favorite, Death Race 2000 (1975), starring David Carradine and Sylvester Stallone and produced by Roger Corman.

It was later remade as Death Race (2008), starring Jason Statham and Joan Allen, directed by Paul W. S. Anderson and produced by Tom Cruise.

He 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.

New Line agreed to pay Melchior a $75,000 production bonus and $15,000, but refused him his contractually promised two percent of the producer's gross receipts from the film.