Talk:Alejandro Melchor

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Pontoon bridges

It strikes me that this article might be a bit overbroad in asserting "Melchor was known for designing the pontoon bridges used by the U.S. Army during the Second World War." I frankly doubt that the U.S. Army used bridges designed by him in non-Philippine theaters. I do see that he is credited here and here with being the inventor of the pontoon bridge, but the WP article on that speaks of pontoon bridges having been in use centuries prior to his birth.

I see that Donald H. Dyal; Brian B. Carpenter; Mark A. Thomas (April 1996), Historical dictionary of the Spanish American War, Greenwood Publishing Group, p. 2, ISBN 9780313288524 (see this), apparently being a book by a daughter, contains a snippet saying, "My father received a Legion of Merit from the U.S. Government for his work on pontoon bridges that were widely ...", but I have no access to look further at that. Perhaps someone with access to a U.S. library might check this out further. Also, this 1942 photo might be useful in this article. Wtmitchell (talk) (earlier Boracay Bill) 02:49, 15 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]