Rescue operations are undergoing to recover the sunken ferry MV Miraj 4 in the Megna River near Munshiganj, Bangladesh, 16 May 2014. The death toll in the Bangladesh ferry disaster rose to 26 on 16 May, including children and women and many more feared dead as the ferry, carrying more than 200 passengers on board, sunk during a storm on 15 may 2014, police authorities said. (Photo by Abir Abdullah/EPA)

A Pakistani policeman wades across floodwaters in Lahore on August 19, 2024. Flash floods triggered by the latest spell of monsoon rains are wreaking havoc across parts of Pakistan, claiming the lives of 14 people in the previous 24 hours, an official at the provincial disaster management authority said on August 19. (Photo by Tahir Jamil Khan/Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)

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)

In this August 17, 2016, photo, from left to right, Chhering Chodom, 60, Tashi Yangzom, 50, Lobsang Chhering, 27, and Dorje Tandup, 58, drink milk tea on the side of the road. For centuries, the sleepy valley nestled in the Indian Himalayas remained a hidden Buddhist enclave forbidden to outsiders. Enduring the harsh year-round conditions of the high mountain desert, the people of Spiti Valley lived by a simple communal code – share the Earth's bounty, be hospitable to neighbors, and eschew greed and temptation at all turns. That's all starting to change, for better or worse. (Photo by Thomas Cytrynowicz/AP Photo)

Models in lingerie are seen walking the streets of Sydney during a marketing campaign in support of marriage equality in Sydney, Australia on August 14, 2017. On Monday, 60 Honey Birdette employees took to the streets of the Sydney CBD in support for marriage equality ahead of the federal government’s controversial postal plebiscite on the topic, with forms slated to arrive in Australians’ mailboxes on September 12. Australians will vote on whether to legalise gay marriage via a voluntary postal vote and need to register by August 24. According to Honey Birdette’s Facebook page, the aim of the demonstration was to empower women and celebrate equality. The founder and CEO of the brand Eloise Monaghan is a “proud member of the community” and married to another woman. (Photo by PA Wire)

A sailor of the Marshal Shaposhnikov anti-submarine destroyer takes part in the “Vostok-2022” military exercises at the Peter the Great Gulf of the Sea of Japan outside the city of Vladivostok on September 5, 2022. The Vostok 2022 military exercises, involving several Kremlin-friendly countries including China, takes place from September 1-7 across several training grounds in Russia's Far East and in the waters off it. Over 50,000 soldiers and more than 5,000 units of military equipment, including 140 aircraft and 60 ships, are involved in the drills. (Photo by Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP Photo)

Nepalese women farmers spray mud water at each other while planting rice in a paddy field during the National Paddy Day in the village of Jitpur in Kathmandu, Nepal, 30 June 2015. On this day, known as Asar Pandra, farmers begin the annual rice planting season and mark the day with various festivities such as preparing rice meals with muddy water, spreads mud among farmers. The Mud being a symbol for a prosperous season. The agricultural sector contributes about 60 per cent to Nepal's gross domestic product. (Photo by Narendra Shrestha/EPA)

Russia-backed separatists stand at the site of the crashed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 plane, near the village of Hrabove, eastern Ukraine, Thursday, July 16, 2015. The fighters said they have arrived to protect the media and make sure the MH17 crash site is clear of ammunition and mines. A year since a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 was blown out of the sky over war-ravaged eastern Ukraine, killing 298 people, there has been little official word of progress in determining what brought down Flight MH17. (Photo by Antoine E. R. Delaunay/AP Photo)