In this November 7, 2016 photo, “El Menor”, a member of “Los Cainos” self-defense group formed by the Marval fishing family, holds a homemade gun before starting a night patrol to help protect fishermen from pirate attacks in Punta de Araya, Sucre state, Venezuela. Pirates are terrorizing the coastal state of Sucre, once home to the world's fourth-largest tuna fleet and a thriving fishing industry. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)

Kayaks, 7, poses for a picture holding toy gun in a camp where Christians displaced by Islamic State militants are living, in Irbil, Iraq, Friday, December 23, 2016. Iraq’s Christians are marking the holiday in his camp for displaced people with a sense of worry and despair, unable to return to their towns they were forced to flee two years ago by the Islamic State group’s onslaught. (Photo by Manu Brabo/AP Photo)

A child plays with a mock submachine gun at a model Mass Transit Railway (MTR) station to mark the National Security Education Day at Hong Kong Police College in Hong Kong, China on April 15, 2021. The “education day” was organized to promote the sweeping legislation China imposed last year, marked with school activities, games and shows, and a parade by police and other services. (Photo by Tyrone Siu/Reuters)

Shaolin boys practice kung fu in the sweltering heat during the zen shaolin music ceremony at shaolin temple, Dengfeng, Henan province, China on August 4, 2019. Shaolin unique skills include: shaolin arhat formation, three gun sashimi, shaolin stick, shaolin stone lock skill, iron hand splitting bricks, water training, fist and foot sparring. (Photo by Sipa Asia/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

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)

The Villarica volcano erupts near Pucon, Chile, early Tuesday, March 3, 2015. The Villarica volcano erupted Tuesday around 3 a.m. local time (06:00 GMT), according to the National Emergency Office, which issued a red alert and ordered evacuations. (Photo by Aton Chile/AP Photo)

Without the use of any type of scuba equipment, divers descend to great depths armed with underwater guns, harpoons and strong line to stalk and hunt prey. Some of the best free-divers in the world can hold their breath for up to 5 minutes under water and go to depths greater than 100 feet.

(All photography © Eyeconic Images.)

A glasses-free Toshiba 55-inch 3-D 4x full HD TV shows the movie, “Coraline” at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center January 11, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The TVs are scheduled to be available this year and will come with embedded cameras with facial recognition capability so depending on where you are sitting, the set will adjust the viewing point for the best 3-D experience. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)