LiLou the therapy pig stands in front of a departures board at San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco, California, U.S. October 4, 2019. (Photo by Jane Ross/Reuters)

Bolivian wrestler Ana Luisa Yujra (L), aka “Jhenifer Two Faces” and Lidia Flores, aka “Dina, The Queen of the Ring”, both members of the Fighting Cholitas, fight at Sharks of the Ring wrestling club in El Alto, Bolivia, on November 24, 2019. After a fortnight hiatus due to anti-government protests and blockades, the Fighting Cholitas are back in the ring. The unrest was triggered by the disputed October 20 election, which Evo Morales claimed to have won and opposition groups said was rigged. (Photo by Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP Photo)

Afghan women and a boy make their way in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, November 15, 2015. (Photo by Rahmat Gul/AP Photo)

“DC3 Wreck”. A capture of a US military DC3 plane wreck at the southern black beach in Iceland. Photo location: Iceland. (Photo and caption by Naian Feng/National Geographic Photo Contest)

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)

A model presents a creation by LARHHA during the Code'41 Andalusian Fashion Week at the Amphitheatre of Italica in Seville on March 21, 2021. (Photo by Cristina Quicler/AFP Photo)

A woman on her hen day reacts as members of the public enjoy a drink in the Grassmarket as lockdown measures are eased on April 26, 2021 in Edinburgh, United Kingdom. Cafes, beer gardens, non-essential shops and museums are reopening in Scotland today as lockdown easing continues. (Photo by Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images)

Ladies enjoying Ladies Day at the Grand National Festival 2022 at Aintree Racecourse, Liverpool on Friday, April 8, 2022. (Photo by Splash News and Pictures)