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)

An Ezo red fox, or kitakitsune, and her cub are seen at night near the city of Sapporo, northern Japan, 15 May 2022. Authorities are calling population to avoid contact with the animals due to risks of echinococcosis infection. (Photo by JIJI Press/EPA/EFE)

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)

A horse is evacuated as the Canyon Fire burns in brush-filled hillsides in Castaic, California, 07 August 2025. The Canyon Fire near Lake Piru, a reservoir about 60 miles northwest of downtown LA, has forced thousands to evacute and has grown to more than 1,000 acres according to Cal Fire. (Photo by Allison Dinner/EPA)

In November 2021 Bryan Adams took the pictures for next year’s Pirelli calendar, which features fellow musicians including Cher, Rita Ora, Iggy Pop and the American singer Jennifer Hudson, above, as it depicts a typical day in the life of a touring performer. (Photo by Bryan Adams/Pirelli)

A motorist drives a car through a flooded expressway in Brooklyn, New York early on September 2, 2021, as flash flooding and record-breaking rainfall brought by the remnants of Storm Ida swept through the area. (Photo by Ed Jones/AFP Photo)

Members of the grounds crew try to catch a cat that got loose on the field during the eighth inning between the Baltimore Orioles and the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on August 2, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Adam Hunger/Getty Images)

Female members of the Colombian Army take part in the military parade to commemorate Colombia's Independence Day in Bogota on July 20, 2024. (Photo by Alejandro Martinez/AFP Photo)