Three cabaret dancers sit glum-faced in the Windmill Theatre's canteen upon hearing the news that the theatre's owners have sold out to a cinema company, on October 02, 1964. The theatre, which was the first to include nudity in its shows, has been able to cope with competition from a growing number of West End strip clubs. (Photo by Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

Kaye Don seated in the cockpit of his new racing car the “Silver Bullet” at Wolverhampton, England on February 21, 1930, in which he will attempt to beat world land speed record at Daytona. It has two 12-cylinder V shaped engines and each develops 2,000-h.p. The theoretical speed of the car is 275 m.p.h. but the designer estimated that will be able to reach 250 m.p.h. allowing for wind pressures. (Photo by AP Photo/Staff/Puttnam)

A South China Tiger cub meets public at Guangzhou Zoo on June 22, 2017 in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province of China. Guangzhou Zoo boasts of the successful breeding of South China Tiger cub after 15 years. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

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)

Firls attend Sunday Mass at Sacre-Coeur church, in Port-au-Prince, Sunday, July 11, 2021, four days after President Jovenel Moise was assassinated in his home. (Photo by Joseph Odelyn/AP Photo)

A woman takes part in a demonstration against police violence during the recent rallies of opposition supporters following the presidential election in Minsk, Belarus on August 12, 2020. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

People take photos of hotel room lights shaping the word “Zero”, referring to Covid-19 cases, in Taipei, Taiwan, 17 April 2020. According to news reports Taiwan records no new COVID-19 cases for third time this week. Medical experts are rushing to develop a vaccine for the COVID-19 disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and advising people to practice social distancing and proper hygiene. (Photo by David Chang/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

The body of one of several U.S. soldiers who were executed after being captured by North Korean troops just south of Seoul in early July 1950. (Photo by AP Photo)