
The 1960s encapsulated a generation at war and was a springboard for protests as well as racial political and social change. It was a time when young men, barely old enough to hold a gun, were sent half a world a way to fight in Vietnam.

Often, the human side of the war was untold, with only numbers of those killed in battle displaying the horrors of the war.

But in a breathtaking photo essay by famed LIFE photojournalist Larry Burrows, human emotion and the plight of a troop of American soldiers is captured in stunning detail at the apex of the conflict, putting a searingly sympathetic touch to the lives of soldiers serving their country.

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

Ready to fly: Lance Cpl. James Farley, helicopter crew chief, puts on his helmet aboard Yankee Papa 13 before the tragic mission

The U.S. Marines’ Helicopter Squadron 163 knew their mission – to airlift nine Vietnamese infantry to a post some 20 miles away. The date was March 31, 1965.

By the time of the photo essay, entitled One Ride with Yankee Papa 13, Burrows had been covering Vietnam for more than three years and had seen his fair share of operations.

Doubt lingered thick in the air – would this mission be a ‘milk run,’ a simple leave and return, or would the Vietcong be waiting with guns to ambush the Yankee Papa 13?

The answer, unfortunately, was the latter.

Before the storm: Lance Cpl James Farley (left) and Private Wayne Hoilien (right) shop in Da Nong before the mission and right, Farley loads M-60s into the helicopter

Disaster striking: Wounded sergeant Billie Owens runs from the downed Yankee Papa 3 helicopter to Lance Corporal Farley, waiting aboard Yankee Papa 13

The crew was being led by Lance Cpl James C. Farley, who was only 21, and had been shopping around the nearby town of Da Nong earlier that day.

Once airborne and with nine Vietnamese infantry on board, they knew it was a trap.

‘The Vietcong dug in along the tree line, were just waiting for us to come into the landing zone,’ Burrows wrote in his report. ‘We were all like sitting ducks and their raking crossfire was murderous.’

He described the chaos of trying to rescue a wounded pilot who was bleeding from the neck from the nearby Yankee Papa 3. The helicopter’s blades were still whirring and enemy fire rang around him.

With gunshots from the enemy barraging the copter, they had no choice but to leave the wounded pilot and flee for their lives.

Somebody help: James C. Farley (left) with a jammed machine gun shouts to crew as wounded pilot James E. Magel lies dying beside him

Dark day: With 11 bullet holes in its skin and its radio knocked out, Yankee Papa 13 heads for Da Nang; James Magel lies dead on the floor and wounded gunner Billie Owens slumps against Wayne Hoilen. James Farley (right) sags in exhaustion

The YP13, had to wait until they were out of reach from enemy fire to tend to the wounded. Lt James Magel, the pilot from YP3, had a grisly wound under his right armpit, Barrow reported.

But blood began coming out of his nose and mouth, and he was gone. ‘Magel was dead. Nobody said a word,’ Barrow wrote. ‘We were all left with our own drained thoughts.’

The war, which stretched into 1973, claimed more than 3million lives and 58,000 Americans.

Moment of grief: Farley weeps aboard the aircraft after the lieutenant succumbed to his wounds, left, and right, wounded sergeant Billie Owens (centre) is helped from Yankee Papa 13 onto a stretcher after arriving at Da Nang

They rode in silence with the dead back to Da Nang. The plane’s gunner, Sgt Owens, was shot 11 times and sat slumped in a corner near Magel’s body.

When they returned, Captain Vogel spoke to Farley to explain why they could not rescue the pilot of YP3. ‘If we had stayed another ten seconds under those (Viet Cong) machine guns,’ Vogul told Farley, ‘you or us would never have gotten out of there.’

Burrows continued to photograph life in the war until he was killed six years later at the age of 44 after his helicopter was shot down over Laos in February 1971.