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 staff member (R) looks on next to a cake, which was baked in the shape of a muscular man, for customers to try for free during a promotional event of a cake store in Shenyang, Liaoning province, China, December 6, 2015. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

Men at work at the Cardiff Institute, making huge baskets, unique in size and construction, for loading oil cake in South Africa. (Photo by Maeers/Getty Images). 1938

An employee of cake shop prepares chocolate Easter bunnies with masks in Lykovrisi, northern Athens, on Wednesday, April 8, 2020. Cake shops and bakeries in Greece have remained open during a strict circulation ban in Greece to contain the spread of the COVID-19, but authorities have intensified a crackdown on lockdown violations ahead of Easter, which is celebrated by Orthodox Christians on April 19. Greece's Orthodox Church says it will not permit any public gatherings for Easter services. (Photo by Thanassis Stavrakis/AP Photo)

Giant panda Jia Jia enjoys her birthday cake made with ice and vegetables at Ocean Park in Hong Kong, Tuesday, July 28, 2015 as she celebrates her 37-year-old birthday. Jia Jia broke the Guinness World Records title for “Oldest Panda Living in Captivity” on Tuesday. (Photo by Kin Cheung/AP Photo)

A woman wears a face mask on her chin and walks past a cake depicting the coronavirus on display at the annual cake show organized as part of new year celebrations in Bengaluru, India, Tuesday, December 29, 2020. India's confirmed coronavirus cases have crossed 10 million with new infections dipping to their lowest levels in three months, as the country prepares for a massive COVID-19 vaccination in the new year. (Photo by Aijaz Rahi/AP Photo)

In this Sunday, April 6, 2014 photo, Valery Palma prepares to blow out the candle on a birthday cake for her one-year-old dachshund Camila, at Camila's birthday party in Mexico City. Palma, who has two dogs, spent $300 on the birthday party for 11 canines and 16 people, complete with cake, presents and snacks, at a dog hotel featuring a gym and massage and aromatherapy services. (Photo by Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo)

Preparation of a Cuban cake (a Mexican sandwich that is made with bread, generally a telera, bolillo or baguette, which is split in half and filled with different ingredients such as milanesa, sausages, cheese, avocado, onion, tomato, bacon, chili, chorizo, pineapple, among others), during the International Cake Fair on the esplanade of the Venustiano Carranza mayor's office in Mexico City on August 2, 2023. (Photo by Gerardo Vieyra/NurPhoto/Rex Features/Shutterstock)