A penitent called “Morion” checks his mobile phone in Mogpog town on Marinduque island in central Philippines April 14, 2014. During the annual festival, masked and costumed penitents called “Moriones” dress in attire that is the local interpretation of what Roman soldiers wore during biblical times. Holy Week is celebrated in many Christian traditions during the week before Easter. (Photo by Erik De Castro/Reuters)

A young girls holds a ballot during the Greek referendum in Athens on July 5, 2015. Greek voters headed to the polls today to vote in a historic, tightly fought referendum on whether to accept worsening austerity in exchange for more bailout funds, in a gamble that could see it crash out of the euro. (Photo by Aris Messinis/AFP Photo)

Chinese models with animal-themed body paintings pose during a campaign for animal protection at Sanya Color Zoo in Sanya city, south China's Hainan province, 10 January 2016. The girls wearing strapless bras and short pants only were colored with animal-themed paintings such as zebra, cheetah, tiger and peacock. They paraded throughout the newly-opened Sanya Color Zoo and met visitors to take pictures, causing envies from netizens living in north China who are suffering chills. (Photo by Imaginechina/Splash News)

Indigenous women from the Kamayura tribe take part in a demonstration of Huka Huka fight at the first World Games for Indigenous Peoples in Palmas, Brazil, October 29, 2015. (Photo by Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters)

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)

Models present creations “2033 (teens)” by Belarusian designer Anastasiya Kutepova during a show at the festival and contest Fashion Mill, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Minsk, Belarus on June 30, 2020. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

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 October 29, 2013 photo, Daniel smokes marijuana inside his apartment where he uses a hydroponics system to grow his weed in Mexico City. “I'm not a narco, dude. I just like to smoke”, said Daniel, who spoke on condition that his last name not be used because, he said, his home-grow operation is "super-illegal" despite being for personal use only. (Photo by Eduardo Verdugo/AP Photo)