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)

Members of the police forces of Republic of Srpska march during a parade marking the 30th anniversary of the Republic of Srpska in Banja Luka, northern Bosnia, Sunday, January 9, 2022. This week Bosnian Serb political leader Milorad Dodik was slapped with new U.S. sanctions for alleged corruption. Dodik maintains the West is punishing him for championing the rights of ethnic Serbs in Bosnia – a dysfunctional country of 3.3 million that's never truly recovered from a fratricidal war in the 1990s that became a byname for ethnic cleansing and genocide. (Photo by Radivoje Pavicic/AP Photo)

Members of the police forces of the Republic of Srpska march during a parade marking the 32nd anniversary of the Republic of Srpska, in the Bosnian town of Banja Luka, 240 kms northwest of Sarajevo, Tuesday, January 9, 2024. The United States on Tuesday warned that ongoing celebrations of a Bosnian Serb self-proclaimed national holiday were in violation of Bosnia's constitution and a 1995 peace agreement, and as such amounted to a criminal offense. The Jan. 9 holiday commemorates the date in 1992 when Bosnian Serbs declared the creation of their own state in Bosnia, igniting the country's devastating four-year war that killed more than 100,000 people. (Photo by Radivoje Pavicic/AP Photo)

Željava Air Base, situated on the border between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina under Plješevica Mountain, near the city of Bihać, Bosnia, was the largest underground airport and military air base in the former Yugoslavia, and one of the largest in Europe. (Photo by Thomas Windisch/Exclusivepix Media)

Dajana Djuric, 25, who has worked as a chimney sweep since the age of six, cleans a chimney in Brcko, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Dajana Djuric, believed to be the only female chimney sweep in Bosnia and Herzegovina, has to contend with perilous roofs in the depth of winter. (Photo by Dado Ruvic/Reuters)

An England fan poses for a photo outside the stadium before their international friendly match against Bosnia and Herzegovina in Newcastle, Britain on June 3, 2024. (Photo by Lee Smith/Action Images via Reuters)

Nermin Halilagic, 38, poses with kitchen utensils in Bihac, Bosnia and Herzegovina, January 23, 2017. Halilagic discovered earlier this year that he had the unusual ability to attach items to his body using what he says is a special energy radiated from his body. (Photo by Dado Ruvic/Reuters)

German kickboxer Christine Theiss (L) hits challenger Olja Zerajic of Bosnia during their WKA middleweight title fight at Postpalast on March 2, 2012 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Alexandra Beier/Bongarts/Getty Images)