Cassie Douthwaite (L) and Stuart Abercrombie from Preston pose for a portrait in Brighton, southern England February 16, 2013. Brighton hosts “The Brighton Tattoo Convention” this weekend, an annual two-day gathering which attracts visitors, performers and tattoo artists from around the world. Photograph taken February 16, 2013. (Photo by Toby Melville/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)

Japanese artist Sachi shows off her creation of a realistic 3D cat portrait, made by using felted wool, at her house in Sagamihara, Japan, January 21, 2022. (Photo by Akira Tomoshige/Reuters)

Riders from Netherland and Belgium crashes in the women's track cycling madison final during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Izu Velodrome in Izu, Japan, on August 6, 2021. (Photo by Matthew Childs/Reuters)

Picture show a 39-foot whale that was crushed to death hanging lifelessly over the bow of a tanker in Japan. Horrified locals caught sight of the whale as the ship pulled into the harbour of Kurashiki last month, September 2021. (Photo by Newsflash)

Rio Takahashi of Japan gets ready for the final show of the Miss International Queen 2020 transgender beauty pageant in Pattaya, Thailand on March 7, 2020. (Photo by Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters)

Moruti Mthalane of South Africa is punched by Masayuki Kuroda of Japan during their IBF flyweight title boxing bout in Tokyo on May 13, 2019. (Photo by Charly Triballeau/AFP Photo)

A model presents a creation by Japanese lingerie brand Peach John from its Autumn/Winter 2016 collection during Tokyo Fashion Week in Tokyo, Japan, March 15, 2016. (Photo by Toru Hanai/Reuters)