The Don Englebreston Collection
Gallery: Gene McCarley Tailwind Slide Show JPEG WM
Two photographs from the Gene McCarley Collection show personnel gathered beside a heavy-lift helicopter at a forward landing zone and indigenous MACV-SOG Hatchet Force troops loading onto a cargo truck with rucksacks, ammunition, and weapons as an American Special Forces advisor looks on. McCarley commanded the ground force during Operation Tailwind, the September 1970 covert raid into Laos, and these images capture the helicopter-borne insertions and troop movements that defined operations along the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
Personnel and Helicopters at Forward Operating Base, Operation Tailwind Era (Gene McCarley Collection)
Indigenous Soldier Packing Rucksack Beside Sandbag Bunker, Gene McCarley Operation Tailwind Collection
Soldiers Clearing Landing Zone in Jungle Terrain, Operation Tailwind Era, Gene McCarley Collection
Captured Enemy Ordnance Crate with Rifle, Gene McCarley Collection
MACV-SOG Team in Tiger-Stripe Camouflage at Base Camp Staging Area, Gene McCarley Collection
Soldiers Marching Beneath Helicopter Tail Boom with Full Combat Loads, Gene McCarley Collection
Indigenous MACV-SOG Troops Loading onto Military Cargo Truck, Gene McCarley Collection -- Operation Tailwind
MACV-SOG Team Gathered at CH-53 Helicopter, Operation Tailwind, Laos, September 1970
Thatched Enemy Bunker Structure with Soldier, Operation Tailwind, Laos, September 1970
SOG Team Member Aboard Helicopter Prior to Insertion, Operation Tailwind (Gene McCarley Collection)
