In 1971, I was supposed to go to the Air Cav. A friend of mine was Co. Clerk. He had gone to a rival high school and even pledged the same fraternity as I did. Our wives knew each other from H.S. He had been hit his first night in "Nam with the Cav (I got sick and never did ship over) and, as he was hit 3 times, was sent back to the states. He used to tell me stories about the Cav as I was recovering and working in the Duty Room on light duty.

One story was that, at Landing Zone X-Ray, the wounded who survived reported the NVA had gone out at night and executed the wounded they could find with a shot to the head (A couple even survived to tell the tale!). Anyway, he said after that, unless ordered otherwise, the CAV took no prisoners. Heard that story from a couple of sources.

Men I know who served during WWII said much the same thing=there was no time during combat to watch prisoners. We were taught to leave no effective combatant behind you!