The VC bodies sparked the first of many controversies that came from the battle. Following standard procedure, Col Hathaway gave orders for the 15 VC KIA to be buried "before they became a health hazard." Major Donald Potter, 1/46 Infantry's executive officer, issued instructions that the bodies be buried in an eroded section near the resupply LZ. For reasons that never become clear, five of the bodies were transported instead to the base trash dump. By the time this was noticed, it was past 12:00 and the bodies were beginning to bloat in the heat. Rather than move the bodies again, Maj Potter instructed the commander of Company D to "go on and burn them down there in the trash dump." Burning the bodies of enemy combatants is considered a war crime, but Potter did not seem to realize this. Nolan also notes that the bodies were repeatedly burned over the next several days.