In this image released on September 22, American actress and singer Vanessa Hudgens attends Rihanna's Savage X Fenty Show Vol. 3 presented by Amazon Prime Video at The Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites in Los Angeles, California; and broadcast on September 24, 2021. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Rihanna's Savage X Fenty Show Vol. 3 Presented by Amazon Prime Video)

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)

Halsey performs at Night Two of BUDX Miami by Budweiser on February 02, 2020 in Miami Beach, Florida. (Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images for BudX)

American actress Kaley Cuoco goofs around for the cameras while looking fashionable filming her upcoming TV show “The Flight Attendant” in Manhattan on February 12, 2020. (Photo by LRNYC/The Mega Agency)

Milan Fashion Week Women SS 2020 – ETRO Spring/Summer 2020 show in Milan, Italy on September 20, 2019. Top model Irina Shayk and other models leaving Etro Fashion Show. (Photo by Pierre Teyssot/Splash News and Pictures)

American actress Vanessa Hudgens in the first decade of March 2023 takes a moment to honor the “magical women of the world”. (Photo by vanessahudgens/Instagram)

Swedish actress Alicia Vikander poses during a photocall for the film “Firebrand” at the 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 22, 2023. (Photo by Joel C. Ryan/Invision/AP Photo)

The UK Love Island star Tasha Ghouri stunned in a white see-through dress in the second decade of August 2023. Tasha celebrated her birthday in style. (Photo by Instagram)