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)

“Rowan Sebastian Atkinson (born 6 January 1955) is an English actor, comedian, and screenwriter. He is most famous for his work on the satirical sketch comedy show Not The Nine O'Clock News, and the sitcoms Blackadder, Mr. Bean and The Thin Blue Line. He has been listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest actors in British comedy, and amongst the top 50 comedy actors ever in a 2005 poll of fellow comedians. He has also had cinematic success with his performances in the Mr Bean movie adaptations Bean and Mr. Bean's Holiday and in Johnny English and its sequel Johnny English Reborn”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Actor Rowan Atkinson attends a photocall for “Mr. Bean's Holiday” at the Adlon Hotel March 22, 2007 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Pornstar Asa Akira made an appearance at the new Pornhub shop in New York, USA on Friday, November 25, 2017. Pornhub is a pornographic video sharing website and the largest pоrnography site on the Internet. The new pop-up will be open in New York's SoHo until 20 December. (Photo by Curtis Means/ACE Pictures/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

In collaboration with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, Allegheny College art students repurpose used street signs as art materials to create the PennDOT Road Sign Sculpture Garden in Meadville, Pennsylvania, USA on August 19, 2017. (Photo by Brian Cahn/ZUMA Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A woman walks past servicemen of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DNR), who take part in a rehearsal for the Victory Day parade in Donetsk, Ukraine on May 3, 2018. (Photo by Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters)

Carey Williams leaps into the icy waters of the Snake River for the 2022 Polar Plunge at the Hells Gate Marina on Saturday, January 1, 2022, in Clarkston, Wash. (Photo by August Frank/Lewiston Tribune via AP Photo)

Gypsies gather at Appleby in Cumbria, United Kingdom on August 12, 2021, for the biggest horse fair of its kind in Europe, which lasts till Sunday. Typically the fair takes place in June, although COVID has pushed it back to August in 2021. In the region of 30,000 people are expected to attend. (Photo by Chris Strickland/Alamy Live News)

Mahsa Kadkhoda #11 of Team Iran spikes the ball during their semi-final round match against Team Chinese Taipei on day seven of the AVC Cup For Women at PhilSports Arena on August 28, 2022 in Pasig, Philippines. (Photo by Ezra Acayan/Getty Images)