An officer wipes sweat off the face of a Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) honor guard soldier as they rehearse for a welcoming ceremony for New Zealand's Governor-General Sir Jerry Mateparae at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Tuesday, July 21, 2015. (Photo by Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo)

A man fires a weapon as he dances during a traditional excursion near the western Saudi city of Taif, August 8, 2015. Saudis usually party in such excursions as they celebrate weddings or graduations. (Photo by Mohamed Al Hwaity/Reuters)

Athletes in action during the international parachuting competition Mountain Gravity in Quinto, Switzerland, 27 August 2015. Some 200 participants from all over the world are expected to jump at the event running from 22 to 30 August 2015. (Photo by Samuel Golay/EPA)

Performers of circus company Circa perform during a photocall for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe on Calton Hill on August 1, 2017 in Edinburgh, United Kingdom. (Photo by Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian)

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)

A woman carries a stone cross in a cemetery in the village of Copaciu, southern Romania, on May 2, 2013. As part of a Holy Week tradition, Romanians visit, on Maundy Thursday, the graves of their loved ones, light fires and share food with community members in memory of the departed. Orthodox worshipers celebrate Easter on May 5. (Photo by Andreea Alexandru/ Mediafax)

“Jallikattu is a bull taming sport played in Tamil Nadu as a part of Pongal celebrations on Mattu Pongal day. Annually, jallikattu is held from January to July, played first in world-famous Palamedu, near Madurai on January 15 followed by “Alanganallur-jallikattu” in Alanganallur, near Madurai on 16 January. There is a specific breed of cattle bred for this purpose known as Jellicut and from the place of a big breeder Pulikulam”. – Wikipedia. Photo: Bull tamers try to control a bull during the bull-taming sport called Jallikattu, in Palamedu, about 575 kilometers (359 miles) south of Chennai, India, Tuesday, January 15, 2013. (Photo by Arun Sankar K./AP Photo)

Children play in front of a brick factory on the outskirts of the northern Myanmar city of Mandalay on December 14, 2015. (Photo by Phyo Hein Kyaw/AFP Photo)