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)

Barny, the Harveys Brewery dog has a sniff of a pint of beer at the Great British Beer Festival, at Olympia in London, Tuesday, August 11, 2015. The five day event is organised by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), with over 900 real ales, ciders, perries and international beers on offer. (Photo by Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP Photo)

An undated handout picture released on January 10, 2017 by the Issekinicho publishing house shows an inter- species sexual behaviour between a male Japanese macaque and female sika deer, in Yakushima Scientists revealed on January 10, 2017 the “highly unusual” behaviour of a male monkey filmed trying to have sеx with female deer in Japan – a rare case of inter- species nookie. (Photo by Editions Issekinicho/AFP Photo)

In this image distributed on Tuesday, September 29, 2015, 11-year old dance star Taylor Hatala and friends are seen filming their new Monster High Boo York, Boo York music video #CityGhouls in Los Angeles. (Photo by Casey Rodgers/Invision for Mattel/AP Images)

“Are you here for the Winery Tour?” This is a Western Grey Kangaroo caught lounging in the wineries of the Adelaide Hills in South Australia. This past Autumn has been a spectacular time for wildlife viewing and I got lucky to spot this guy while mountain biking in the hills. Such a funny stance it just begs the question... Have you been drinking? ...and or... Are you here for the Winery Tour? Such a spontaneous moment I figured it would be perfect for an entry. I hope you like it! Cheers. Photo location: Adelaide Hills, South Australia, Australia. (Photo and caption by Greg Snell/National Geographic Photo Contest)

In this photograph taken on July 10, 2012, a Pakistani worker pulls on a wire he will connect to a thick chain that will in turn be used to peel away a slab of the outer structure of a beached vessel in one of the 127 ship-breaking plots in Geddani, some 40Kms west of Karachi. (Photo by Roberto Schmidt/AFP Photo)

Thomas Thwaites of the United Kingdom accepts the 2016 Ig Nobel Prize in Biology for “creating prosthetic extensions of his limbs that allowed him to move in the manner of, and spend time roaming the hills in the company of, goats” during the 26th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S. September 22, 2016. (Photo by Brian Snyder/Reuters)

Lilly Caron, 8, of Bridgeton, Maine, Jason Homchick, of San Diego, and Lilly's father Jason Caron, (obscured), ride the Sky Swing at Seacoast Adventure, Thursday, July 14, 2016, in Wyndham, Maine. The 100-foot-tall swing gives riders the combined thrills of sky diving and hang gliding. (Photo by Robert F. Bukaty/AP Photo)