Children play on top of an abandoned car at the “Aguerridos Liberator” shanty town in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, May 9, 2019. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)

Veiled Thai women take a selfie on the Talo Kapo beach enjoying Eid al-Fitr on June 5, 2019 in Pattani, Thailand. Today is Eid al-Fitr, or Festival of Breaking the Fast, which marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

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 giant classic Hindu Ramayana statue dons a face mask to remind passengers to keep to coronavirus precautions at the Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok, Thailand, Wednesday, July 21, 2021. The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand has ordered a halt to all domestic flights operating from the most severely affected provinces effective Wednesday. Exceptions are allowed for flights to destinations that are part of a plan that allows vaccinated travelers from abroad to stay for two weeks on popular islands such as Phuket and Samui without quarantine confinement. (Photo by Sakchai Lalit/AP Photo)

A young girl walks with a Ukrainian flag during an event for Ukrainian Independence Day in the historical Grand Place of Brussels, Wednesday, August 24, 2022. European leaders are pledging unwavering support for Ukraine as the war-torn country marks its Independence Day. The commemorations Wednesday coincide with the six-month milestone of Russia's invasion. (Photo by Virginia Mayo/AP Photo)

Teenage girls at a drinking fountain in Hyde Park in Central London on August 9, 2022 after weeks with no significant rain and unprecedented high temperatures. Many parts of southern England and Wales are facing drought conditions and preparing for emergency water measures. (Photo by Sarah Lee/The Guardian)

Followers of the Stowdart Sect of the Zion Church of God, sing and dance during a service in the historic neighborhood of Mbare in Harare on August 20, 2023. Zimbabweans will head to the polls on August 23, 2023 to vote in general and presidential elections. (Photo by John Wessels/AFP Photo)

Jamaica's Tissanna Hickling competes in the women's long jump qualification during the World Athletics Championships at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest on August 19, 2023. (Photo by Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP Photo)