Divers perform during a Christmas-themed underwater show at the Aqua Planet 63 aquarium in Seoul on December 8, 2022. (Photo by Anthony Wallace/AFP Photo)

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)

“Red Land: Sunset Cloud Village is one of the most picturesque places in Red Land, China. As its name indicates, it's best to see before sunset. The reddish brown soil turns redder after rainfall and after farmers plow the land”. (Photo and comment by Peng Jiang/National Geographic Photo Contest via The Atlantic)

Firefighters pull a pig as they try to rescue it from a well at a pig farm in Huanghua township of Leqing, Zhejiang province, China, April 25, 2014. Seven local firefighters successfully rescued the 300 kg (661 lbs) pig, local media reported. (Photo by Reuters/China Daily)

People participate in a wet t-shirt contest on a stage while people party and celebrate on the beach at Clayton's Beach Bar and Grill in South Padre Island, Texas, USA, 11 March 2018. Spring break draws thousands of kids from all over the country to many different locations to celebrate each year. (Photo by Larry W. Smith/EPA/EFE)

A worker spreads paddy crop for drying in a rice mill complex on the outskirts of Ahmedabad February 3, 2011. (Photo by Amit Dave/Reuters)

Racegoers in fashionable hats attend Ladies Day at Cheltenham Festival on March 15, 2017 in Cheltenham, England. (Photo by David Davies/PA Wire)