Traditional dancers from southern state Tamil Nadu prepare themselves as they wait to perform during a press preview of displays being featured for the upcoming Republic Day parade in New Delhi on January 22, 2019. The Republic Day is an annual showcase of India's military hardware and cultural diversity. India celebrates its 70th Republic Day on January 26. (Photo by Sajjad Hussain/AFP Photo)

Government officials in protective suits carry a mock coffin as they walk around a busy intersection during a coronavirus awareness campaign to remind people of the risk of contracting COVID-19 and to always obey health protocols to curb the spread of the outbreak in Jakarta, Indonesia, Friday, August 28, 2020. (Photo by Dita Alangkara/AP Photo)

Karen Dunn and the nuns from Nun of That Convent at Trailer Park during the final day of Electric Picnic 2023 in Co Laois, Ireland on September 3, 2023. (Photo by Alan Betson/The Irish Times)

A participant in the “Cats Who Look Like Cows” competition wears a cowboy outfit back stage before judging on March 05, 2023 in Bangkok, Thailand. Thailand's Cat Fanciers' Club hosted a “Cats Who Look Like Cows” competition during a Cat Expo in Bangkok's Ladphro neighborhood. Over 100 cats were judged on how similarly their pattern resembled a cow, color, fur softness and personality. A relaxed, fluffy cat named Arpo took home first prize. (Photo by Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images)

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)

Jury member Nicole Kidman attends the Jury Press Conference. (Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images)

This unidentified teenager found Elvis Presley “too much” when he appeared at the Philadelphia Arena in Philadelphia, Pa., on April 6, 1957. (Photo by Bill Ingraham/AP Photo)

A member of the wingsuit flyers duo, known as the Soul Flyers, is seen in mid-air as he catches up and flies into the open door of Pilatus Porter plane, piloted by Philippe Bouvier, after B.A.S.E. jumping off the Jungfrau mountain, 4158 meters, in Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland, October 13, 2017. French athletes Fred Fugen and Vince Reffet had 2.45 minutes and a free fall distance of 3200 meters to complete their project “Door In The Sky”, coordinated by Yves Rossy know as the “Jetman”. (Photo by Thibault Gachet/Reuters)