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)

“The Toyota Winglet is a self-balancing two-wheeled scooter similar in function and form to the Segway PT and the Honda U3-X. It is capable of cruising at 3.7 miles per hour. Unveiled August 1, 2008, it is not known when or if the Winglet will be offered for consumer sale”. – Wikipedia

Photo: A Toyota Motor employee displays a proyotype model of personal transport assistance robot “Winglet” during the 11th Eco-Products 2009 – Eco Style Fair at Tokyo Big Sight on December 10, 2009 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Koichi Kamoshida/Getty Images)

“Dropping” is the work of Italian graphic artist Alberto Seveso. Seveso captured these amazing images or “fluid sculpture” with the use of high-speed photography while mixing ink with oil, as a tribute to the dripping technique of Jackson Pollock. Seveso works from his home town of Portoscuso, Italy creating cutting edge imagery for ad campaigns for companies such as Adobe, Sony, ESPN, Nikon and more. Sevese says of his work: “I don't consider myself as an artist, I'm just someone playing with software and creativity”... (Photo by Alberto Seveso)

“My name is In Cherl Kim. I'm a PR manager of Samsung Everland. Everland is a largest theme park in South Korea. Everland has a variety of attractions and flower garden and entertainment. Among other things, Everland zoo is very unique place!” – In Cherl Kim. Photo: Ring tailed lemur. (Photo by In Cherl Kim)

Keep your eyes peeled: A Chinese teenager slipped and stabbed himself in the face with a 7cm knife while peeling an apple. Ren Hanzhi's father recalled: “He was walking to the sofa while peeling the apple. Suddenly he slipped down and his face hit onto the sharp knife. I dared not pull out the knife as my son was screaming”. The nearest hospital referred the 13-year-old to a larger unit. Chief surgeon Peng Liwei, who operated to remove the knife, commented: “It's shocking. The knife, which is more than 20cm long, penetrated 7cm into his face. The surgery was successful and the patient could recover fully in around a month”. (Photo by Rex Features)