Buddhist nuns watch a parade during a Novitiation Ceremony at the Hlegu Township in Yangon on March 15, 2025. (Photo by Sai Aung Main/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)

A beauty contestant waits backstage during the final of the annual Miss Tiffany's Universe 2016 transvestite contest in the beach resort town of Pattaya, Thailand, May 13, 2016. (Photo by Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters)

In this October 27, 1983 file photo, soldiers brandish captured AK-47 rifles from the windows of a civilian vehicle as they drive near Point Salines Airport in St. George, Grenada. In 1983, U.S. forces invaded the Caribbean island of Grenada after accusing the government of allying itself with Communist Cuba. (Photo by Doug Jennings/AP Photo)

Sherry Pie attends “RuPaul's Drag Race Season 12” meet the queens at TRL Studios on February 26, 2020 in New York City. (Photo by Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for VH1 “RuPaul's Drag Race”)

American actress and professional kiteboarder Maika Monroe is seen leaving the Saint Laurent show on February 25, 2020 in Paris, France. (Photo by Beretta/Sims/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Brazilian model Alessandra Ambrosio poses for photographers upon arrival at the opening ceremony and the premiere of the film “Jeanne du Barry” at the 76th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Tuesday, May 16, 2023. (Photo by Scott Garfitt/Invision/AP Photo)

Members of the Paraguay-African cultural group Kamba Cua dance during celebrations in honor of Saint Balthazar, one of the Three Kings, on Epiphany in Fernando de la Mora, Paraguay, late Saturday, January 8, 2022, just days after the official holiday. The annual procession is a tradition that keeps Paraguay's Afro-descendants connected with their African roots through ancestral dance, drumming and customs. (Photo by Jorge Saenz/AP Photo)