Two children jumping through a water hydrant's shower on a New York street. They have come from a neighbouring co-educational playgroup organised by the city's Police Department. (Photo by Orlando/Getty Images). 1950

Soniya, 6, whose family moved to Islamabad from Pakistan's Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province to look for work, stands outside their house on the outskirts of Islamabad January 1, 2015. (Photo by Zohra Bensemra/Reuters)

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)

New York Police officers arrest a drag queen during a weekly “We Choose Freedom” march through the West Village, Thursday, November 5, 2020, in New York. (Photo by Seth Wenig/AP Photo)

Joseph Fons holding a Pride Flag, runs in front of the U.S. Supreme Court building after the court ruled that a federal law banning workplace discrimination also covers sexual orientation, in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 15, 2020. (Photo by Tom Brenner/Reuters)

A woman wearing a face mask to protect against the spread of COVID-19 walks past a mask clad Acrocanthosaurus display at the Witte Museum, Thursday, January 28, 2021, in San Antonio. (Photo by Eric Gay/AP Photo)

A military helicopter flies over people during the Afghan Security Forces Exhibition, at the Darul Aman Palace in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, March 3, 2021. The three-day military exhibition in Kabul allowed civilians to have a first hand view and take pictures of weaponry used by Afghan Security forces. (Photo by Rahmat Gul/AP Photo)