Tolbert McClain was born on November 29, 198 in Savannah, NT. He lived in Savannah doing general farm hand work before entering the U.S. Army on January 8, 1942. McClain entered the Army at Fort Oglethrope, GA and was transferred to Fort Riley, Ks for boot camp training. He became a soldier of Troop C 17th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron. As a youth he became an avid marksman while hunting the rural areas of Tennessee, subsequently, in basic training he received a military qualification as a 1st Class Gunner 37 MM. On March 1, 1944, McClain departed for the European African Campaign arriving in the United Kingdom on March 8, 1944. His battles and campaigns included, Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, and Central Europe (Belgium, Holland and Berlin Germany at the end of WW II).