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 photo made avialable on 05 August 2015 shows an Indian woman collecting drinking water from a water pump in the submerged village of Sreerampur, some 150 kilometers north of Calcutta, India, on 04 August 2015. At least 215 people have died in floods and a landslide following monsoon rains in India over the past week, 83 deaths were reported from the western state of Gujarat and 69 from eastern West Bengal. The worst-affected states were West Bengal, Gujarat and Rajasthan, the Home Ministry said. (Photo by Piyal Adhikary/EPA)

Two 70 thousand RMB (about 11,310 USD) robots carry dishes and offer service for customers at a robot themed restaurant at Chunxi Road in Chengdu, China, December 11, 2014. The restaurant has 10 robots to serve as waiters. Each robot can carry simple dishes and offer simple greetings. (Photo by ChinaFotoPress/ChinaFotoPress via Getty Images)

A handout image released by the Taronga Zoo shows Veiled Chameleon hatchlings at Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia, 11 March 2015. Taronga has welcomed more than 20 baby chameleons, with the last of three clutches of eggs hatching this week. Veiled Chameleons, or Chamaeleo calyptratus, are native to Saudi Arabia and Yemen and can live up to five years. (Photo by EPA/Taronga Zoo)

Going toe-to-toe, these fighting primates could give Floyd Mayweather a run for his money. The amazing images – captured by Australian tourist Julie Rathbone on the banks of the Zambezi river in Africa – show the pair engaging in a few fisticuffs. The Chacma baboons appeared to settle a disagreement by fighting – before a senior baboon plays referee and steps in to break it up. Nurse unit manager Julie Rathbone, 59, from New South Wales, was on a cruise down the river when she spotted the fracas unfolding. (Photo by Julie Rathbone/Caters News)

The Berenson robot strolls among visitors during the exhibition “Persona : Oddly Human” at the Quai Branly museum in Paris, France, February 23, 2016. The Berenson robot, developed in France in 2011, is the brainchild of anthropologist Denis Vidal and robotics engineer Philippe Gaussier. Its programming allows it to record reactions of museum visitors to certain pieces of art and then use the data to develop its own unique taste, which allows “Berenson” to judge whether or not it likes a certain work of art within an exhibition. (Photo by Philippe Wojazer/Reuters)

A member of a local swimming club holds a Russian national flag as he dives in at the start of a 24-hour swimming marathon near the western Siberian city of Barnaul March 29, 2014. Thirty members of the club will swim in turn during the event, held to mark Crimea becoming part of Russia, local media reported. (Photo by Andrei Kasprishin/Reuters)

Japan's computer giant Fujitsu employee displays the world's first personal computer with Intel's RealSense 3D camera “FMV Esprimo” in Tokyo on October 9, 2014. The new desktop PC with 23-inch LCD display can make avatars which mimic the user's look and motion for chatting on the Internet. (Photo by Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP Photo)