People observe a protest against a new citizenship law from a bus, in New Delhi, India, January 3, 2020. (Photo by Anushree Fadnavis/Reuters)

Janja Garnbret of Slovenia competes during the women's boulder qualification of the IFSC World Cup Innsbruck 2024 on June 26, 2024 in Innsbruck, Austria. (Photo by Marco Kost/Getty Images)

Torchbearers Charles Antoine Kouakou, Fabien Lamirault, Elodie Lorandi, Nantenin Keita and Alexis Hanquinquant gesture after lighting the Cauldron to conclude the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Summer Paralympic Games at Place de la Concorde on August 28, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

The Rio Tinto river in Spain crosses an ancient mining site which makes the water turn a variety of bright colours. Copper, silver and gold are mined here, as well as iron, which turns the water red. An ochre mix is responsible for the yellow tint of the rest of the river. (Photo by Olivier Jarry-Lancombe/Solent News)

A student participates in celebrations ahead of the Janmashtami festival, which marks the birth anniversary of Lord Krishna in Mumbai, India, August 23, 2016. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui/Reuters)

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)

Dancers Daisy Kerry (R) and Alice Rathbone pose as characters from The Nutcracker, for the annual Christmas event at Chatsworth House near Bakewell in Britain November 4, 2016. (Photo by Darren Staples/Reuters)

A student runs for cover as riot police clash with students during a demonstration on February 29, 2012 in Barcelona, Spain. Student associations have called upon 120,000 students to strike in protest against education cuts recently announced by the Catalan government. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)