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)

Fans in Star Wars costumes attend the world premiere of Disney's “Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker” at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California on December 16, 2019. (Photo by Valerie Macon/AFP Photo)

In this image released on November 22, English singer and songwriter Dua Lipa poses for the 2020 American Music Awards, broadcast on November 22, 2020 in London, England. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for dcp)

British TV personality, “The Only Way Is Essex” star Yazmin Oukhellou, 27, in Dubai last decade of January 2022. (Photo by Instagram)

American singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo (R) seen at BRIT Awards 2022 Sam Fender's After Party at Four Quarters in Peckham on February 08, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Neil Mockford/Ricky Vigil M/GC Images)

Bella Hadid and sisssster Gigi look boa-tiful as they strike up an Adam and Eve pose complete with a snake in February 2022. The model siblings went nude for a Versace shoot — just like Rocky actor Sylvester Stallone, 75, and supermodel Claudia Schiffer, 51, did back in 1995. (Photo by Mert and Marcus/Versace)

American actress, singer, and model Zoë Kravitz poses for photographers upon arrival for the screening of the film “The Batman” in London Wednesday, February 23, 2022. (Photo by Joel C. Ryan/Invision/AP Photo)