War Crime or Operational Necessity?

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by GoldenRivet

Japanese sailors not wishing to surrender would draw a weapon or hand grenades and blow themselves up

And it looks like that's exactly what happened in that film clip. The .45 made the splash following the blast, but unless he was shot with a 40mm AA gun that guy definitely blew himself up.

The only confirmed incident of an American captain ordering survivors to be shot was Dudley Morton, and he claimed they shot first. He could be a war criminal, or it could have happened the way he said it did. He died later, along with his crew, so there is no real evidence one way or the other.