Notes for: Branniard Otis "Jeff" McClain

He worked at Weirton Steel as a welder for three years in the early part of World War II, and enlisted in the Navy in 1944. He subsequently worked for Fourco's Clearlite facility at Adamston (Clarksburg), WV for 31 years, and he drove the West Union to Auburn mail route for 21 years. He often told stories of the time he "walked down the streets of Tokyo, Japan in 1945 behind Gen. Douglas MacArthur." During his time in the Navy, he served on the USS Chicago and the USS Vicksburg, the latter of which was struck by a Japanese torpedo which did not explode. On his birthday in 1944, he was lowered over the side of the USS Vicksburg to paint the damage done by the torpedo. When he was finished, the other sailors dropped him into the Pacific Ocean as a birthday prank. He made many friends at work and on the mail route and is said to never have met a stranger. He was the fourth-great-grandson of Samuel McLean of Uniontown, PA, who was one of five McLean brothers from York, PA who surveyed the Mason-Dixon Line.