A sand carver works on a sculpture during the Sand Sculpture Festival “Dreams” in Ostend, Belgium on June 18, 2019. (Photo by Yves Herman/Reuters)

“Sunward”. When the Mediterrenean Mantis opened its wings, It seemed very impressive at the sunshine... Photo location: Nicosia, Cyprus. (Photo and caption by Hasan Baglar/National Geographic Photo Contest)

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)

In this photo taken on July 19, 2014, a man looks at an excavation as an A.R.M.H., Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory, volunteer digs on the search for the body of Perfecto de Dios, in a hidden grave in Chaherrero, Spain. Across Spain, volunteer teams of archeologists, anthropologists and forensic scientists head out every year on expeditions to dig for suspected mass graves – a legacy of Spain's fascist past during the time of General Francisco Franco. (Photo by Daniel Ochoa de Olza/AP Photo)

Passengers prepare to take part in the No Pants Subway Ride in Prague, Czech Republic, Sunday, January 8, 2017. The No Pants Subway Ride began in 2002 in New York as a stunt and has taken place in cities around the world since then. (Photo by Petr David Josek/AP Photo)

A woman shoots her rifle at a forest shooting range near the village of Visnova, Czech Republic, June 9, 2016. (Photo by David W. Cerny/Reuters)

Sparkler fireworks are created by Palestinian children in the al-Zaytoun district on the east of Gaza City on March 28, 2023 during Ramadan. The fireworks, which are made with steel wire wool, are part of the celebrations in the Palestinian enclave during the Muslim holy month. (Photo by Ahmad Hasaballah/IMAGESLIVE via ZUMA Press Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

People take photos during the Loy Krathong festival which is held as a symbolic apology to the goddess of the river in Chiang Mai, Thailand, November 19, 2021. (Photo by Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters)