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)

Young children at a Bristol, Great Britain health centre unsure of the benefits of sun-lamps and the special glasses that must be worn, July 1948. The health centre was part of the newly introduced free National Health Service. (Photo by Popperfoto/Getty Images)

A girl from Newar community is pictured with vermillion powder on her forehead as she takes part at the Ihi ceremony in Bhaktapur, Nepal on December 6, 2019. The two-day ceremony begins with purification rituals and ends with “Kanyadan” (giving away the virgin) of the girl by her father. A Newari girl gets married thrice in her life, first with Bel, the fruit of a wood-apple tree, secondly with the sun, and lastly with her future husband. (Photo by Monika Deupala/Reuters)

A couple wearing face masks rides a bicycle at a park in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, March 7, 2020. The number of infections of the COVID-19 disease spread around the globe. (Photo by Ahn Young-joon/AP 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)

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

An Israeli spectator watches a giant T-Rex balloon during the Purim parade festival in Petah Tikva, Israel, Thursday, March 24, 2016. The Jewish holiday of Purim commemorates the Jews' salvation from genocide in ancient Persia, as recounted in the Book of Esther. (Photo by Oded Balilty/AP Photo)