Men are held by Iraqi national security agents, to be interrogated at a checkpoint, as oil fields burn in Qayara, south of Mosul, Iraq, Saturday, November 5, 2016. Islamic State fighters launch counterattacks in the thin strip of territory Iraqi special forces have recaptured in eastern Mosul, highlighting the challenges ahead as the battle moves into more densely populated neighborhoods where coalition air power must be used more selectively. (Photo by Felipe Dana/AP Photo)

The waning moon is setting over the mountain “Les Cornettes de Bise” located at the border of the Haute-Savoie and the Valais canton of Switzerland in the Chablais Alps, photographed from Glutieres, January 7, 2015. (Photo by Anthony Anex/EPA)

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 long exposure image of embers flying off burnt out trees following the wind driven wildfire ranging in the mountain area near Rancho Cucamonga late 30 April 2014. Earlier in the day more than 1,500 homes were evacuated as the Etiwanda fire charred around 1,000 acres in San Barnardino National Forest. (Photo by Stuart Palley/EPA)

Miley Cyrus broke onto the scene as “Hannah Montana” in 2006. Since the show ended, she’s been desperate to shed the Disney image, first with “Can’t Be Tamed” in 2010, then with open marijuana use and twerking on Robin Thicke’s crotch in 2013. (Photo by Getty Images)

Protesters on a freeway onramp amid a chaotic traffic situation with the shutdown of the freeway in downtown Los Angeles, California after midnight early on November 10, 2016 as protesters angry over Donald J. Trump's election as the next US president marched in downtown Los Angeles through the evening and shut down portions of the Hollywood (101) Freeway. Thousands of protesters rallied across the United States expressing shock and anger over Donald Trump's election, vowing to oppose divisive views they say helped the Republican billionaire win the presidency. (Photo by Frederic J. Brown/AFP Photo)

Ukrainians pour water on each other on a street in Lviv, Ukraine, 02 May 2016. The tradition of pouring water was an ancient spring ritual of cleansing on first Monday after Orthodox Easter. (Photo by Mykola Tys/EPA)

(L-R) American actress Alexandra Shipp and American model Paris Jackson attend The Elizabeth Taylor Ball To End AIDS at West Hollywood Park on September 15, 2022 in West Hollywood, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)