TV personality Lindsay Hubbard got “activated” at the Straight Talk Tax Breaks event in Miami on February 24, 2024. (Photo by Michael Simon/startraksphoto.com)

General view of atmosphere of fans at the “Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 An IMAX Experience” release party at AMC Loews Kips Bay 15 theater on July 14, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Rob Kim/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)

Liu Chunxia, a supporter of Xu Zhiyong, one of China's most prominent rights advocates, is detained by policemen while she gathers with other supporters nearby a court where Xu's trial is being held in Beijing January 22, 2014. When dozens of activists unfurled banners across the country last March and April calling for officials to disclose their assets, they did so at the urging of one of China's most prominent rights advocates, Xu Zhiyong. Xu, 40, stands trial on Wednesday on a charge of “gathering a crowd to disturb public order” punishable by up to five years in prison. His case will almost certainly spark fresh criticism from Western governments over Beijing's crackdown on dissent. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)

Miss Universe Zozibini Tunzi (C) waves at fans as she is driven through the streets of Johannesburg during her homecoming parade after being crowned in December 2019, Johannesburg, South Africa, 13 February 2020. Zozibini is the first black women to win the title. Miss Universe is an annual international beauty pageant that is run by the United States-based Miss Universe Organization. (Photo by Kim Ludbrook/EPA/EFE)

North Korean bodyguards run along a limousine transporting Kim Jong Un upon his arrival in Dong Dang, Vietnam, February 26, 2019. The second meeting of the US President and the North Korean leader, running from 27 to 28 February 2019, focuses on furthering steps towards achieving peace and complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

US actress Glenn Close, US actress Sarah Paulson, US actress Teyana Taylor, US reality TV personality Kim Kardashian, US actress Niecy Nash-Betts and British actress Naomi Watts pose during a photocall for the premiere of “All's Fair” TV series in Paris on October 21, 2025. (Photo by Bertrand Guay/AFP Photo)

A woman wearing cut-off jeans and a halter-neck sun top in St Tropez, 1972. (Photo by Roy Jones)