As a natural result of being left-handed, Mallory jogged toward the sea rather than nearer the beach road as he moved to avoid a passing tank. Reflecting on the incident later, he decided it was the first time in a right-handed world that his opposite orientation had brought him anything but grief.
The helmeted commander in the cupola of the roaring M-60A1 tank was a guy Mallory had double-dated with back at Camp Lejeune—a mechanical genius who always had a car that ran and a tank full of gas. Mallory waved and the tank commander grinned beneath his goggles. He shrugged to let Mallory know he had no idea what was happening either. That was the last thing Mallory saw before his eyes were slammed shut by a huge explosion off to his right. When he was able to open them again, he was flat on
