Photographs of LZ Margo (conclusion)
The Margo Photos
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His photographs of LZ Margo capture the action and the awfulness of our time there.
They include shots of our flight in and landing by chopper, the Spooky gunship firing tracers in darkness above us, the battlefield littered with the detritus of combat while wounded Marines are tended and medevac'ed out, and photos of ordinary men doing an extraordinarily hard job.
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You may enlarge the pictures, and when you do you will see moving details of men helping other men, or mourning them.
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The saddest photograph has to be the picture that shows no casualties, but instead depicts piles of weaponry whose owners had been medevac'ed to medical aid stations, hospital ships or morgues.
Major Lynch (foreground) was our S-3 (Operations Officer) and was also our commander in all but name during our operations on LZ Margo and in the DMZ.​ Here, in the weeks prior to LZ Margo, he leads Battalion Landing Team 2/26 on an operation through lowland, coastal swamps in Vietnam. ​The burning Amtrac (Landing Vehicle, Tracked, Personnel, Mark 5) in the background was destroyed by an improvised explosive device -- an IED -- likely an unexploded American artillery round.
Lt Alan Green, call sign John Brown Whiskey 6, reviews last minute details before lifting off to LZ Margo. His 81mm Mortar Platoon played a crucial role days later. In the background are 105mm towed howitzers of Bravo Battery, 1/13, awaiting heli-lift to Firebase Bird. In the distance is Mutter's Ridge.
Lt Tom Roadley was the Fire Support Officer for BLT 2/26 and as such had many pressing duties involving ringing us with defensive and offensive big-bore weapon fire. In addition to doing a noteworthy job in that capacity (he won a Bronze Star), he had the presence of mind to take this series of unique photos. We're grateful that he has chosen to share them with his brother Marines of BLT 2/26, and with history. (Press Esc to leave the expanded view.)
Major Lynch (foreground) was our S-3 (Operations Officer) and was also our commander in all but name during our operations on LZ Margo and in the DMZ.​ Here, in the weeks prior to LZ Margo, he leads Battalion Landing Team 2/26 on an operation through lowland, coastal swamps in Vietnam. ​The burning Amtrac (Landing Vehicle, Tracked, Personnel, Mark 5) in the background was destroyed by an improvised explosive device -- an IED -- likely an unexploded American artillery round.
Slide gallery of 1stLt Tom Roadley's photos of LZ Margo. Copyright by and courtesy of Thomas H. Roadley.
There are several ways to view these photos in the slide player:
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Hover over a photograph to see Tom Roadley's fine-grained description and display the left and right arrows to move through the photos (your keyboard arrows work too.)
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Click on any photo to see it enlarged and annotated. Once enlarged, you may scroll through all of the photos or click on the image (or press Escape) to return to the normal presentation.
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Click the Play button in the player's lower right to auto-play the slides. You may hover over the slides during auto-play to see descriptions.
We greatly appreciate Tom's sharing these pictures here. Please respect that they are the copyrighted works of Thomas H. Roadley, protected under Title 17 of the United States Code, and more importantly are his intellectual property obtained under the most trying of circumstances.
