A Pakistani vendor prepares peanuts for sale on a roadside in Peshawar, Pakistan, 01 January 2018. After a good raining season the sales of dry fruits flourish in the country. Tourists from all over Pakistan come to Peshawar to purchase dry fruits along with other items because of price differences between different parts of the country. (Photo by Bilawal Arbab/EPA/EFE)

Journalists practice social distancing outside a meeting to wrap up work on coronavirus economic aid legislation to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Washington, U.S., March 21, 2020. (Photo by Mary F. Calvert/Reuters)

A young Indian girl dressed as Hindu goddess Laxmi participates in a procession to mark “Gudi Padwa”, or Maharashtrian New Year, in Mumbai, in the Indian state of Maharashtra, Friday, April 8, 2016. (Photo by Rajanish Kakade/AP Photo)

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)

Families visit Clifton beach to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr holidays, marking the end of the Islamic holy fasting month of Ramadan, in Karachi, Pakistan, Sunday, April 23, 2023. (Photo by Fareed Khan/AP Photo)

In this Saturday, July 14, 2018, file photo, waves caused by high tide envelops a man standing outside his house near the Arabian Sea in Mumbai, India. The man was washed away by the wave and rescued by locals about 100 meters away from the spot. (Photo by Rajanish Kakade/AP Photo)

People cool off at Crown Fountain in Millennium Park as temperatures reached a record high of 97 degrees Fahrenheit on June 17, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. Temperatures in the city are expected to reach highs in the 90s for the remainder of the week. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

A carnival member performs during a carnival procession of the closing carnival night in the town of Strumica, southeastern North Macedonia, 16 March 2024. North Macedonians are marking Trimery, an Orthodox Christian holiday, when evil spirits are chased away with dance rituals. The holiday marks the beginning of the fasting period ahead of Easter. (Photo by Georgi Licovski/EPA/EFE)