A migratory bird picks her food as army soldiers are reflected in a fountain during rehearsals for the upcoming Republic Day parade at the Raisina hills, the government seat of power, in New Delhi, India, Monday, January 18, 2021. India celebrates Republic Day on Jan. 26, highlighted by a march past by different branches of the military as well as a display of arms and missiles. (Photo by Manish Swarup/AP Photo)

Members of Team Japan compete in the Artistic Swimming Team Acrobatic Final on day four of the Fukuoka 2023 World Aquatics Championships at Marine Messe Fukuoka Hall A on July 17, 2023 in Fukuoka, Japan. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

Young siblings in costume fully embrace the Notting Hill carnival atmosphere in London, England on August 28, 2023. (Photo by Nico Froehlich/The Guardian)

An elephant with a shackled leg is pictured at the Hanoi Zoo in Hanoi on August 16, 2023. Legs in iron chains and unable to roam freely, the treatment of two elderly elephants at the Hanoi public zoo has drawn outrage from animal lovers across Vietnam. (Photo by Nhac Nguyen/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)

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson visits the Pavegen stand, a company that converts footsteps into energy, at the Innovation Zone during the UK-Africa Investment Summit in London, Britain on January 20, 2020. (Photo by Leon Neal/Pool via Reuters)

Goose, a nine-month-old cat, sits in a backpack as people gather during a Speak Out Against Sexual Violence demonstration at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Michigan, U.S., March 28, 2021. (Photo by Emily Elconin/Reuters)

Postal worker Eddie Smith, dressed as Santa Claus, waves to a neighbor on his mail route in Washington, U.S., December 21, 2021. (Photo by Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)