Ratko Mladic makes his first appearance at the International Criminal Tribunal on June 3, 2011 in The Hague, Netherlands. Ex-Bosnian Serb army leader Ratko Mladic will make his first appearance at The Hague war crimes tribunal after being declared fit to stand trial. Mladic was arrested a week ago after going into hiding for the past 16 years and is charged with atrocities committed during the Bosnian war. (Photo Serge Ligtenberg/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)

Roma's Gianluca Mancini scores his team's goal in the 1-0 Rome derby victory over Lazio at Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy on April 6, 2024. (Photo by Alberto Lingria/Reuters)

A model displays shoes during the Ryan LO Autumn/Winter show at London Fashion Week, Friday, February 19, 2016. (Photo by Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP Photo)

Emily Ratajkowski attends the 2017 Weinstein Company and Netflix Golden Globes after party on January 8, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Broadimage/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Jennifer Lopez And Giuseppe Zanotti Celebrate Their New Shoe Collaboration at Neiman Marcus on January 26, 2017 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by FameFlynet)

TV Personality Courtney Stodden attends OK! Magazine's pre-GRAMMY event at Avalon Hollywood on February 9, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Splash News and Pictures)