French performer Maud'Amour applies a makeup backstage before the Parisian transvestite cabaret show at “Madame Arthur” in Paris, on September 29, 2023. Open since 1946, Madame Arthur is the oldest transformist cabaret in Paris. Threatened with extinction the cabaret is undergoing a renaissance, attracting younger customers by returning to the fundamentals of the lie: baroque and queer performers who play with genres and conventions, and sing French hits live. (Photo by Joel Saget/AFP Photo)

British-American fashion model and designer Georgia May Jagger put on a busty display as she barely covered her boobs for a for CR Fashion Book in the second decade of March 2024. (Photo by Matt Jones for CR Fashion Book)

A ballerina puts makeup on before practising for the revival of the classical ballet “Chopiniana”, the first since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, in the underground area of the National Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre amid ongoing attacks, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on April 27, 2025. (Photo by Marko Djurica/Reuters)

US actress Glenn Close, US actress Sarah Paulson, US actress Teyana Taylor, US reality TV personality Kim Kardashian, US actress Niecy Nash-Betts and British actress Naomi Watts pose during a photocall for the premiere of “All's Fair” TV series in Paris on October 21, 2025. (Photo by Bertrand Guay/AFP Photo)

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)

Gunfire erupted at a Denver pot celebration Saturday, injuring two people and scattering a crowd of thousands who had gathered for the first 4/20 counterculture holiday since the state legalized marijuana... Photo: A woman smokes a large marijuana joint at the Vancouver Art Gallery during the annual 4/20 day, which promotes the use of marijuana, in Vancouver, British Columbia April 20, 2013. (Photo by Ben Nelms/Reuters)

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper shows off his socks--one with Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and the other with Republican candidate Donald Trump – before entering his former brewpub for a book signing event to mark the release of his autobiography Thursday, May 26, 2016, in Denver. Hickenlooper, who is term-limited, is doing book talk rounds this week, reviving speculation that he is positioning himself to join Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign ticket. (Photo by David Zalubowski/AP Photo)

A man dressed as Father Christmas learns how to use Zoom on a laptop in the grotto at Bamburgh castle in Northumberland, UK on November 3, 2020, it was due to open on November the 21st but due to the new national lockdown he will now be speaking to the children via Zoom on a computer. (Photo by Owen Humphreys/PA Images via Getty Images)