A street cleaner demonstrates his martial arts skills in front of a closed shop near Beijing's Tiananmen Square September 2, 2015 as the capital prepares for tomorrow's parade. (Photo by Damir Sagolj/Reuters)

A performer takes part in the opening of the Temple Fair, part of Chinese New Year celebrations at Ditan Park, also known as the Temple of Earth, in Beijing, February 18, 2015. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)

Firefighters pull a pig as they try to rescue it from a well at a pig farm in Huanghua township of Leqing, Zhejiang province, April 25, 2014. Seven local firefighters successfully rescued a 300 kg (661 lbs) pig which fell down a well on Friday morning, local media reported. (Photo by Reuters/China Daily)

This photo taken on August 7, 2016 shows mahjong enthusiasts playing mahjong under water in a swimming pool at a diving club in the Chinese city of Chongqing. Only participants with proper diving certification were allowed to take part in the underwater competition. (Photo by AFP Photo/Stringer)

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)

Dilwyn Green, from North Wales, holds his 7 month old Gold Silkie Bantam which won a 1st prize in its breed at the Poultry Club's 2011 National Show on November 19, 2011 in Stoneleigh, England. (Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

Bjorn, aged 5, smiles as he poses with a Owl butterfly during an event to launch the Sensational Butterflies exhibition at the Natural History Museum in London, Britain March 23, 2016. The exhibition opens to the public on March 24 and runs until September 11. (Photo by Dylan Martinez/Reuters)

A picture made available on 30 March 2016 shows members of the anti-terror squad of the local paramilitary force have a training in Suining, in southwest Sichuan province, China, 29 March 2016. (Photo by Zhong Min/EPA)