Machine Gunning survivors of HMS Kelly sinking?

[ChristopherPerrien]

alright i know this is off topic from HMS Kelly survivors being machine gunned, but here is a statement made by Galland referring to an order by the USAAF to machine gun pilots from Me 262's does this have any merit and was it illegal?

When Göring felt him out in 1941 regarding a hypothetical order to shoot at parachuting enemy pilots, Galland exploded with indignation.

"I should regard such an order as murder," he told Göring, "and I would do everything in my power to disobey such an order." Happily, the order never came. Unfortunately, the same assurances cannot be given concerning American fighter pilots, who actually were ordered to do so in the case of parachuting Me 262 pilots. "[/b][/i] Source: Fighter Aces of the Luftwaffe, Col. Raymond T. Toliver and Trevor J. Constable. Aero Publishers Inc., 1977.

This is from the authors not Galland himself. Also Galland mentions no such order in "The First and the Last". IIRC, He does mention about "some" 262 pilots being strafed.

[ChristopherPerrien]

As to the topic at hand, "belligerent " sailors being recovered by an enemy belligerent warship, were under no Geneva protections at the time. (i.e.Still belligerent status)

They were protected if being recovered by a neutral or hospital ship. (i.e. shipwrecked status)