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)

People throw turnips at the Jarramplas as he comes out from the church beating his drum during the Jarramplas Festival on January 20, 2016 in Piornal, Caceres province, Spain. The centuries old Jarramplas festival takes place annually every January 19-20 on Saint Sebastian Day and this year they expect to use more than 20 thousand kilogrames of turnips. Even though the exact origins of the festival are not known, various theories exist including the mythological punishment of Caco by Hercules, a relation to ceremonies celebrated by the American Indians that were seen by the first conquerors, to a cattle thief ridiculed and expelled by his village neighbours. It is generally believed to symbolize the expulsion of everything bad. (Photo by Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty Images)

People look at the lava flowing on Fagradalsfjall volcano in Iceland on Wednesday August 3, 2022, which is located 32 kilometers (20 miles) southwest of the capital of Reykjavik and close to the international Keflavik Airport. Authorities in Iceland say the volcano in the southwest of the country is erupting just eight months after its last eruption officially ended. (Photo by Marco Di Marco/AP Photo)

A female soldier takes part in a training for women at the Tolemaida Military Air Base in Tolemaida, Colombia, on May 16, 2023. The last time the Colombian Army enlisted women in their ranks was in 1993. Now, 30 years on, more than 1,200 women voluntarily joined the military service in the country. (Photo by Raúl Arboleda/AFP Photo)

A Just Stop Oil demonstrator throws orange confetti on court 18 as he disrupts the women's singles tennis match between Australia's Daria Saville and Britain's Katie Boulter on the third day of the 2023 Wimbledon Championships at The All England Tennis Club in Wimbledon, southwest London, on July 5, 2023. (Photo by Glyn Kirk/AFP Photo)

A woman eats an ice cream as people sunbathe on the beach in Barcelona, Spain, Friday, January 26, 2024. Spain's weather agency says recent abnormally high temperatures for this time of year are set to continue in many parts of Spain on Friday and over the weekend, with an almost summer-like feeling in many coastal areas as people take to the beaches to sunbathe and some to have a winter swim. (Photo by Emilio Morenatti/AP Photo)

Yogis and street performers have been simulating levitation with nifty contraptions forever. They appear to be held aloft via nothing but their preternatural mental prowess. But are really enjoying the benefits of basic physics just like the rest of us when we use a chair. However, just because it’s perfectly explainable doesn’t mean it isn’t nifty. I’m especially impressed by this 2-person version and am still trying to work out how exactly the chair they’re using is shaped at the base.

Illuminated Cut Paper Light Boxes by Hari & DeeptiDeepti Nair and Harikrishnan Panicker (known collectively as Hari & Deepti) are an artist couple who create paper cut light boxes. Each diorama is made from layers of cut watercolor paper placed inside a shadow box and is lit from behind with flexible LED light strips. The small visual narratives depicted in each work often play off aspects of light including stars, flames, fireflies, and planets.