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)

A boy walks past boats docked at the entrance gate of the fishermen's village in the El Max area of the Mediterranean city of Alexandria September 12, 2014. El Max, where hundreds of boats dart through the canals, has been called the “Venice of Egypt” for its waterways and relaxed atmosphere. Its fishermen, however, worry about how they will make ends meet on meagre earnings they say are being reduced further by polluted waters that are making fishing more difficult. While the government has tried to fix the state's bloated finances by cutting subsidies and reining in spending, some argue the reforms hurt Egypt's most vulnerable who have long relied on a generous system of fuel and food subsidies to supplement low incomes. (Photo by Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)

A model presents a creation from the Tom Ford Spring/Summer 2023 collection during New York Fashion Week in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., September 14, 2022. (Photo by Andrew Kelly/Reuters)

Inês Carvalho (C), accompanied by her sister and cousin, is helped by her aunt to dress up at Alfama neighborhood in Lisbon on June 12, 2014. Carvalho, 18, is one of the revelers from the Alfama march and every Saint Anthony's day, Lisbon's protector, she parades with several other typical neighborhoods of the city. (Photo by Patricia De Melo Moreira/AFP Photo)

A grasshopper in a protective mask created by microminiaturist Anatoly Konenko in Omsk, Russia on May 21, 2020. Mini-masks about the size of a rice grain are made of a special high-density medical fabric with a built-in air filter. Anatoly Konenko is one of Russia's most famous microminiaturists; his works include a grasshopper playing a violin, a shod flea, a miniature bass guitar, a camel train in a needle's eye, and over 200 miniature books. (Photo by Yevgeny Sofiychuk/TASS)

Head coach Kim Mulkey of the LSU Lady Tigers enters the stadium on the red carpet before playing against the Iowa Hawkeyes during the 2023 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament championship game at American Airlines Center on April 02, 2023 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

A Japan soccer fan reacts as she watches Japan's FIFA Women's World Cup final match against the U.S. in Vancouver, at a public viewing event in Tokyo, Japan, July 6, 2015. Japan lost the match 5-2 to the U.S. (Photo by Toru Hanai/Reuters)

US President Donald Trump' s daughter and senior White House adviser Ivanka Trump (2nd R) poses for a photo on a balcony of the VIP tent at the Olympic sliding centre with US army luge athletes Taylor Morris (L) and Matt Mortensen (2nd L), and US women’s bobsleigh silver medallist Lauren Gibbs (R) before the ski jump tower at the men' s four- man bobsleigh event of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympic games in Pyeongchang on February 25, 2018. (Photo by Eric Gaillard/Reuters)