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)

Kazakh law enforcement officers detain a woman during a protest rally by opposition supporters in Nur-Sultan on September 21, 2019. (Photo by Orken Zhoyamergen/Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)

A Russian Rosguardia (National Guard) soldier stands at a central avenue in front of a restaurant promoter, a day before Sunday's protest in St. Petersburg, Russia, Saturday, January 30, 2021. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)

American media personality and socialite Kylie Jenner shows off her tiny waist in a new Khy bodysuit in the second decade of March 2025. (Photo by kyliejenner/Instagram)

“Shortly after he arrived, Van Agtmael witnessed the aftermath of this suicide bombing at a cafe that soldiers frequented in Mosul. Nine people died and 23 were wounded”. (Photo and caption by Van Agtmael/Harrison Jacobs/Magnum Photos)

Israeli soldiers cry during a state memorial ceremony marking two years since the 2014 Gaza war “Operation Protective Edge” at Mount Herzl military cemetery in in Jerusalem, Israel, 26 July 2016. More than 2.000 people were killed in the conflicts between Israel and Palestine. (Photo by Abir Sultan/EPA)

A little girl wearing a face mask dances in front of a toy panda at a shopping area in Shanghai, following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, China on June 16, 2020. (Photo by Aly Song/Reuters)

This photo taken on October 30, 2022 shows people in costumes walking on the street during a celebration ahead of Halloween in Guangzhou in China's southern Guangdong province. (Photo by AFP Photo/China Stringer Network)