[2][3] Author Carey Schofield wrote that Margelov "...is considered to be the real father of the VDV...[leading]...them through their most vital period of development.

[7][N 2] In 1913, the Markelov family returned to Belarus and settled in Kastsyukovichy, the hometown of Margelov's father,[9] where he graduated from the local parochial school in the mid-1910s.

There is some evidence that Margelov graduated from the School of Rural Youth[11] and worked as a forwarder in local mail delivery.

In December 1932, he became a cadet in the 3rd Orenberg Pilot and observer school, but was expelled in January 1933 for making "politically ignorant statements".

In November, he was appointed commander of the 1st Special (in the sense of "irregular") Ski Regiment, composed of Baltic Fleet sailors.

[13] In 1948, Margelov graduated from the Voroshilov Military Academy of the USSR Army General Staff and became the commander of the 76th Guards Airborne Division in April in Pskov.

After an incident in the airborne forces, which Schofield describes as encouraging a sergeant to wrestle a bear during a birthday party,[17] Margelov was demoted to deputy commander in 1959.

In May 1967 Colonel-General Margelov played a crucial part in Operation "Rhodopes-67", a massive deployment of Warsaw Pact airborne forces in the People's Republic of Bulgaria near the Greek border as a show of force to deter the recently established military regime of the Greek junta.

[18] The overall commander of the operation was the Bulgarian Minister of People's Defence Army General Dobri Dzhurov, but Col-Gen. Margelov was the person actually in charge.

His father Vasily Filippovich was a strong advocate for the mechanization of the VDV with drop-capable IFVs and APCs and this necessitated the development of heavy duty airborne drop systems for them.

On 5 January 1973, near Tula at the 106th Airborne Landing Division's "Slobodka" training grounds he was the first to drop from an Antonov An-12B "Cub" cargo airplane inside a BMD-1 in order to test the Kentavr multiple parachute system.

[21] The test was a resounding success (which earned him a field promotion to Captain on the spot), but the large area of parachutes and ropes all around the BMD right after touch-down made the machine immobile until the crew came out and detached the 'Kentavr' system, most probably under fire in wartime, which to a great degree made the system pointless, so other solutions had to be developed.

Their role with the 'Reaktavr' was to reduce the speed and most importantly to stabilise the vehicle in a perfect horizontal position for three retarding rocket boosters placed over the BMP to fire close to the ground and land the machine as gently as possible.

[22] On 23 January 1976 at the 76th Airborne Landing Division's Kislovo training grounds near Pskov now Major Aleksandr Margelov was once again the first one to test the new system and this time as the crew commander, with Lt.-Col. Leonid Shcherbakov acting as his gunner.

[23] On both occasions Aleksandr was nominated for the state honor Hero of the Soviet Union award, but did not receive the medal, likely not to raise criticism of nepotism due to the position of his father.

He has received the belated honor after the collapse of the USSR on 29 August 1996, in the form of Hero of the Russian Federation by Presidential Order #1282 with the resolution "For fortitude and heroism, demonstrated in the testing, perfection and mass implementation in the troops of special machinery" (за мужество и героизм, проявленные при испытании, доводке и освоении специальной техники).

There are memorials to Margelov in Kryvyi Rih, Omsk, Tula, Tyumen, St. Petersburg, Ulyanovsk and Ivanovo.

[34] On 6 May 2005, the Russian Federation Ministry of Defence established the departmental Medal "Army General Margelov", awarded to soldiers of the VDV.

[37] Mayor of Dnipro Borys Filatov claimed on Friday 13 January 2023 that this monument would soon be removed from the public space of the city.