Some runners fall during the “El Pilon” running-the-bulls in the village of Falces, Navarra, northern Spain, 16 August 2022. “El Pilon” running-the-bulls is held on a hill where runners have to avoid the herd of cows on a 800 meter long and narrow slope with the mountain on one side and a steep cliff on the other. (Photo by Peio H/EPA/EFE)

British singer and songwriter Charlotte Emma Aitchison aka Charli XCX poses in the green room for a portrait before the Sonos And Pandora Present “An Evening With Charli XCX” event at Sonos Studio on June 10, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for Sonos)

Children feed a giraffe at Pairi Daiza wildlife park, a zoo and botanical garden in Brugelette, Belgium, May 25, 2015. (Photo by Francois Lenoir/Reuters)

Cosplayer Monzerath Gutierrez, who portrays Dragon Ball Z character Trunks, female version, poses for a portrait during the 4th edition of the MiniCon Anime convention, at the School of Dance, in Managua, Nicaragua, Sunday, July, 26, 2015. (Photo by Esteban Felix/AP Photo)

Do you think that history is a science? Well, not exactly. First, and foremost, history is the state's “legend of wars”, it’s official regalia. Of course, public historians are not interested in scientific truth – quite the opposite. In this respect, any attempt to present a state’s history as altruistic and benevolent as possible is welcomed and encouraged – as opposed to any revisionism attempts that may be more accurate. In this matter, Chinese have surpassed us all – they revised in highly creative manner (but rather shamelessly) the technology already invented by Europeans, a process that resulted in oldest state on the planet. Here is an interesting paradox: ask any sinologist about the Middle Kingdom during second century B.C., and he will describe it to you in such a vivid manner as if he has been living there all his life – but as soon as you will ask him to describe Chinese history in the 19-20th centuries… let's say, his eagerness will be greatly diminished. However, we will discuss China in a different article, and in the meantime we will try to understand how exactly historic “legend of wars” is formed and functions – based on a specific and well-known example. A great example is Ferdinand Magellan's first voyage around the world.

Members of ASC Tornados, the motorcycle display team of the Indian army, lie in a row on the ground as another performs a stunt by jumping over them during the 225th anniversary celebrations of Army Service Corps in Bangalore, India, Tuesday, December 8, 2015. The Army Service Corps which was established in 1790 is an arm of the Indian Army which handles its logistic support function. (Photo by Aijaz Rahi/AP Photo)

Jennifer Lopez And Giuseppe Zanotti Celebrate Their New Shoe Collaboration at Neiman Marcus on January 26, 2017 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by FameFlynet)

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)