Andrew Hepher, Vice President of Lubricants Technology, Shell unveils the Shell Concept Car in Beijing, China, Friday, April 22, 2016. Built as proof of energy efficiency that can be achieved with the latest technologies, Shell unveiled the concept car ahead of the bi-annual Beijing Auto Show where the world's top car manufacturers will showcase their own upcoming products. (Photo by Ng Han Guan/AP Photo)

A Palestinian protester sets fire to himself as he throws a molotov cocktail during clashes with the members of the Israeli armed forces in the West Bank city of Hebron, 13 October 2015. The past 12 days have seen the worst spell of street violence in Israel and the Palestinian areas in years, stirred in part by Muslim anger over perceived changes to the status quo observed at a disputed Jerusalem holy site. Sixteen Palestinians from the West Bank and Jerusalem have been killed, but more than half of them have been attackers shot dead after or during attempts to stab Israelis. (Photo by Abed Al Hashlamoun/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)

Heralds ride on horse-back through the streets of Moscow proclaiming the forthcoming coronation of Tsar Nicholas II, 1896. P.S. All pictures are presented in high resolution.

Employees of a food stand take pictures of Titan, a robot created by England Cyberstein Robots, performing at the Danilovsly market in downtown of Moscow, Russia, 12 May 2014. Titan visited to Moscow to attend “Bal Robotov”, an interactive exhibition of the most recent advances in robotics which will be opened on 15 May in Artplay Moscow exhibition center. Titan worked alongside superstars including Will.i.am, Rihanna, Will Smith and Jackie Chan. (Photo by Sergei Ilnitsky/EPA)

In this December 29, 2004 file photo, Kusol Wetchakul offers prayers for the soul of his sister, at dawn along the beach near Khao Lak, Thailand. Wetchakul's sister was swept out to sea and believed drowned as she sold goods to tourists on the popular tourist beach just north of Phuket. Friday marks the 10th anniversary of one of the deadliest natural disasters in world history: a tsunami, triggered by a massive earthquake off the Indonesian coast, leaving more than 230,000 people dead in 14 countries and causing about $10 billion in damage. (Photo by David Longstreath/AP Photo)

A woman eats candy in the shape of a phallus during the Kanamara Matsuri, or Iron Phallus Festival through a street near the Kanamara shrine in Kawasaki outside of Tokyo April 5, 2015. The festival celebrates fertility and is used to raise awareness and money for the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases. (Photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters)

Cardboard cut outs of the faces of three candidates for the Republican nomination for the 2016 US Presidential election (L-R) Ted Cruz, Donald Trump and Marco Rubio, are seen set up on urinals in a pub in London on March 1, 2016 as part of an informal poll for customers to log which they dislike the most. Part of the satirical television show The Last Leg, customers at the pub are able to choose which urinal to use and then log their poll on a list on the wall afterwards. (Photo by Justin Tallis/AFP Photo)