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)

Tourists wear protective masks in Sanur, Bali, Indonesia, 15 March 2020. Indonesia has around 80 active cases of Covid-19. More than 70,000 people worldwide have recovered from coronavirus, nearly half of the total infections recorded since the outbreak began. (Photo by Made Nagi/EPA/EFE)

Mozambique army soldiers take a ride on a motorbike in the streets of Palma, Cabo Delgado, Mozambique, 12 April 2021. The violence unleashed more than three years ago in Cabo Delgado province escalated again about two weeks ago, when armed groups first attacked the town of Palma. (Photo by Joao Relvas/EPA/EFE)

A performer from the Imperatriz samba school takes part in the first night of Rio's Carnival at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro on March 4, 2019. (Photo by Carl de Souza/AFP Photo)

A dancer sanitizes the pole before performing on the outside patio at Cheerleaders Gentlemen's Club in Gloucester City, New Jersey, U.S. July 17, 2020. (Photo by Rachel Wisniewski/Reuters)

Female members of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) honour guard stand behind a string to ensure that they are in a straight line before a welcoming ceremony for Russian President Vladimir Putin outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, June 25, 2016. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)

A Colombian soldier hugs his girlfriend during the graduation ceremony of soldiers in Nilo, Colombia, February 17, 2017. The soldiers will be deployed to occupy territories formerly controlled by FARC rebels. (Photo by Jaime Saldarriaga/Reuters)

Burnouts became a serious form of competition and entertainment in their own right. Considerable prize money or goods are sometimes involved, and cars may even be sponsored or purpose-built specifically as “burnout cars”. Burnout contests are judged on crowd response, with style and attitude therefore being important factors. Such contests are particularly popular in Australia but often occur in North America as well. Wikipedia