In the spring of 1965, within weeks of 3,500 American Marines arriving in Vietnam, a 39-year-old Briton named Larry Burrows began work on a feature for LIFE magazine, chronicling the day-to-day experience of U.S. troops on the ground – and in the air – in the midst of the rapidly widening war. The photographs in this gallery focus on a calamitous March 31, 1965, helicopter mission; Burrows’ “report from Da Nang”, featuring his pictures and his personal account of the harrowing operation, was published two weeks later as a now-famous cover story in the April 16, 1965, issue of LIFE.

Photo: Man your battle stations: The crew chief of helicopter Yankee Papa 13, lance corporal James C. Farley, mans an M-60 machine gun during a mission near Da Nang, Vietnam on March 31, 1965. (Photo by Larry Burrows/Time & Life Pictures)

Jury member Nicole Kidman attends the Jury Press Conference. (Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images)

This unidentified teenager found Elvis Presley “too much” when he appeared at the Philadelphia Arena in Philadelphia, Pa., on April 6, 1957. (Photo by Bill Ingraham/AP Photo)

Former leader of Britain's UKIP party, Nigel Farage (C) reacts as he speaks with Italian-Swedish MEP Anna Maria Corazza Bildt (L) and British Journalist Rachel Johnson during a panel discussion at a conference on Brexit, at the Saatchi Gallery in London on February 19, 2019. The British government on Friday dismissed as a “hiccup” its latest parliamentary defeat over Brexit, saying it would press on with trying to renegotiate its EU divorce deal as exit day looms in just six weeks. (Photo by Tolga Akmen/AFP Photo)

The body of one of several U.S. soldiers who were executed after being captured by North Korean troops just south of Seoul in early July 1950. (Photo by AP Photo)

Unsettled life in Europe failed to change the slow pace of life on the Isle of Capri, off Naples, Italy. Some of the socialites who have come there to relax enjoy an aquatic luncheon serviced in the cool Mediterranean, September 1, 1939. Swimming waiters push out the floating tables bearing meals which include wine and spaghetti. In the background are the rocks of Faraglioni. (Photo by Hamilton Wright/AP Photo)

A member of the wingsuit flyers duo, known as the Soul Flyers, is seen in mid-air as he catches up and flies into the open door of Pilatus Porter plane, piloted by Philippe Bouvier, after B.A.S.E. jumping off the Jungfrau mountain, 4158 meters, in Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland, October 13, 2017. French athletes Fred Fugen and Vince Reffet had 2.45 minutes and a free fall distance of 3200 meters to complete their project “Door In The Sky”, coordinated by Yves Rossy know as the “Jetman”. (Photo by Thibault Gachet/Reuters)

A four-year-old bulldog named Goldie wearing spectacles and a nightcap. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images). 9th January 1960