Children sit under a crocodile based table, as they pose for photographers during a press preview of a themed auction that features the animal as artistic inspiration, entitled “Creatures Great and Small”, in London, Monday, December 15, 2014. The sale scheduled for December 17, 2014, explores animals across a diverse range of mediums and styles, from intricate carving details in 19th century furniture through to contemporary sculpture, according to Christie’s auction house. (Photo by Lefteris Pitarakis/AP Photo)

Mammoet Rallysport's Martin Van Den Brink and Co-Driver Wouter De Graaff in action surrounded by camels during stage 10, Neom to AlUla, Saudi Arabia on January 13, 2021. (Photo by Hamad I Mohammed/Reuters)

Photo taken at the top of the Canton Tower, a landmark in Guangzhou, on August 7, 2022 shows the Pearl River running through downtown of Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province. (Photo by Liu Dawei/Xinhua News Agency)

Turbines of the new Burbo Bank off shore wind farm lay in the wake of a maintenance boat in the mouth of the River Mersey on May 12, 2008 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Rowers enter in Canaregio river during the 42nd Venice Vogalonga on May 15, 2016 in Venice, Italy. 42 years ago a group of Venetians, both amateur and professional rowers, came up with an idea of non-competitive race in which any kind of rowing boat can take part. The first Vogalonga began with the message to protest against the growing use of powerboats in Venice and the swell damage they do to the historic city. (Photo by Awakening/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)

This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Taron Egerton as Elton John in a scene from “Rocketman”. (Photo by David Appleby/Paramount Pictures via AP Photo)

Alan Swinney points a gun during clashes between groups like Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer, and protesters against police brutality and racial injustice in Portland, Oregon, U.S., August 22, 2020. (Photo by Maranie Staab/Reuters)