An aerial view shows people touring between the large-scale ice sculptures at the 18th Harbin Ice and Snow World during its trial run opening to public in Harbin city, Heilongjiang province, China, 21 December 2016. Some 180,000 cubic meters of ice and 150,000 cubic meters of snow were used to build the 800,000-square-meter ice wonderland. The 33rd Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival will kick off on 05 January 2017 that will last about three months. (Photo by Tian Weitao/EPA)

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)

Visitors view ice sculptures at the 29th Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival on January 5, 2013. (Photo by Associated Press)

A child plays the ice slide at the Ice-Snow World park in Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, January 5, 2017. The theme park which used about 330,000 cubic meters of ice and snow for construction opened on Thursday. (Photo by Xinhua/Barcroft Images)

An upside-down pair of pants is seen atop a mound of snow, Wednesday, February 20, 2019, the result of yet another snow storm to hit Omaha, Neb. The latest winter storm dumped more snow on top of the existing snow, creating a problem of what to do with all the cleared snow. (Photo by Nati Harnik/AP Photo)

Family members and relatives of passengers on board the Twin Otter aircraft operated by Tara Air, weep outside the airport in Pokhara on May 29, 2022. A passenger plane with 22 people on board went missing in Nepal on May 29, the operating airline and officials said, as poor weather hampered a search operation. (Photo by Prakash Mathema/AFP Photo)

Soldiers, including two recruits who have brought some chickens, at Victoria prepare to board the train for the battle front. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

A man braces his umbrella while walking through the snow on February 13, 2014 in New York City. Heavy snow and high winds made for a hard morning commute in the city. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)