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)

American actor Tom Cruise was seen jumping from a water taxi on the set of “Mission: Impossible 7” on October 20, 2020 in Venice, Italy. (Photo by Splash News and Pictures)

Cast members Rebecca Ferguson and Mariela Garriga attend the premiere of the film “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One”, in New York City, New York, U.S., July 10, 2023. (Photo by Amr Alfiky/Reuters)

Australian model Kate Fischer (Tziporah Malkah) poses with a Cointreau Ball to celebrate France’s founding anniversary in Sydney, Australia on July 14, 1996. (Photo by Getty Images)

Tippi aged 6 sitting on the back of Linda, a tamed ostrich in South Africa, 1996. Incredible pictures of the real life Mowgli, a girl who spent the first ten years of her life growing up in the African bush, have been released for the first time. The magical images chronicle the life of Tippi Benjamine Okanti Degré, who was brought up with wild animals, just like Rudyard Kipling's hero did in The Jungle Book. (Photo by Sylvie Robert/Barcroft Media)

The Niterói Contemporary Art Museum (Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói — MAC) is situated in the city of Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and is one of the city’s main landmarks. It was completed in 1996.

The NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) 21 mission began on July 21 as an international crew of aquanauts splashed down to the undersea Aquarius Reef Base, located 62 feet below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. The NEEMO 21 crew will perform research both inside and outside the habitat during a 16-day simulated space mission. During simulated spacewalks carried out underwater, they will evaluate tools and mission operation techniques that could be used in future space missions, including journeys to Mars. (Photo by Karl Shreeves/NASA)

Afghans hold placards shouting anti-Pakistan slogans during a protest in Kabul, Afghanistan, 07 September 2021.The demonstrations began after Ahmad Massoud, leading the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRFA), 07 September, called for a national uprising against the Taliban and the alleged Pakistani interference. Panjshir was also the center of resistance against the Islamist group during the previous Taliban regime from 1996 to 2001. (Photo by EPA/EFE/Stringer)