Two hippopotamus are fed with pumpkins at the Hanoi Zoo, in Hanoi, Vietnam, 25 October 2018. The zoo has been the home for more than 800 animals of over 90 different species, including three hippopotamus, since it was built in 1976. (Photo by Luong Thai Linh/EPA/EFE)

s*x workers, wearing decorative skull masks, march through the streets in downtown Mexico City, Friday, October 28, 2016. The women march with candles to an altar dedicated to their departed colleagues, many who died violently at the hands of their customers. This annual procession, tied to the Day of the Dead festivities, has taken place for more than 20 years. (Photo by Eduardo Verdugo/AP Photo)

Members of the Knights Guard clean the ice during the Vegas Golden Knights' game against the Anaheim Ducks at T-Mobile Arena on January 14, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Golden Knights defeated the Ducks 5-2. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty images/Profimedia)

The Elf on the Shelf balloon floats down Sixth Avenue during the 88th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York November 27, 2014. (Photo by Andrew Kelly/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)

Three Chinese soldiers at the time of a civil war in China. (Photo by General Photographic Agency/Getty Images). 1922

Vietnamese dentist Tran Phuong Thao and her husband Tran Minh Hieu wearing protective masks, kiss at their wedding ceremony during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Hanoi, Vietnam on January 28, 2021. (Photo by Kham via Reuters)

New York Rangers right wing Ryan Reaves punches Minnesota Wild left wing Marcus Foligno (17) during a third-period fight in an NHL hockey game Thursday, October 13, 2022, in St. Paul, Minn. (Photo by Aaroan Lavinsky/Star Tribune via AP Photo)