Travellers ride their horse through the river during the Appleby Horse Fair on June 5, 2014 in Appleby, England. The Appleby Horse Fair has existed under the protection of a charter granted by James II since 1685 and is one of the key gathering points for the Romany, gypsy and traveling community. The fair is attended by about 5,000 travellers who come to buy and sell horses. The animals are washed and groomed before being ridden at high speed along the “mad mile” for the viewing of potential buyers. (Photo by Nigel Roddis/Getty Images)

Children clean the interior of a granary in preparation for grain storage in Odek village, north of Uganda capital Kampala February 14, 2015. Odek is the birthplace of Joseph Kony, founder and leader of the rebel group Lord's Resistance Army. The LRA rose up against the government in northern Uganda under the leadership of Kony in the late 1980s and has been accused of abducting children to serve as fighters and s*x slaves. (Photo by James Akena/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)

A General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper stands on the runway during “Black Dart”, a live-fly, live fire demonstration of 55 unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, at Naval Base Ventura County Sea Range, Point Mugu, near Oxnard, California July 31, 2015. (Photo by Patrick T. Fallon/Reuters)

Female sea lion “Sarasa” holds a hose with her mouse to help a trainer clean her room at the Shinagawa Aqua Stadium aquarium in Tokyo on December 30, 2014. The aquarium is carrying out year-end general cleaning of their facilities. (Photo by Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP Photo)

A tourist stands at an edge of the singing sand, the 150-metre-high by three-kilometre-long dune that generates a low-pitched, organ-like rumble in dry weather, in Altyn-Emel national park in Almaty region, Kazakhstan, May 12, 2016. (Photo by Shamil Zhumatov/Reuters)

A general view of atmosphere during the NYC “Soul Train” Line Flash Mob: Hippest Trip in America in honor of Don Cornelius in Times Square on February 4, 2012 in New York City. Cornelius, the creator of “Soul Train”, died on February 1, 2012 at the age of 75. (Photo by Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images)

American singer Jennifer Lynn Lopez, also known as J.Lo reacts after winning the MTV Generation Award at the MTV Movie & TV Awards at Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California, U.S., June 5, 2022. (Photo by Mario Anzuoni/Reuters)