I do not know Albert’s father. By 1918, Coleman McClain had already remarried. In the newspaper article about the train collision that killed his mother, Grace McClain was referred to as “Mrs. Patton’s daughter by a former marriage, but Albert was referred to as “Albert McClain, 5-year-old son of Mrs. Patton”.

The 1930 census gives his place of birth as Kentucky, but he does not appear in the Kentucky birth index, so he was most likely born in Illinois, like his brothers Ollie and Milan.

Albert was injured in the train collision that killed his mother, stepfather, half-sister Grace and half-brother Allie Patton. In the main newspaper article on the crash, he was correctly named as Albert McClain, but the follow-up note reported “BOY DOING NICELY - Albert Patton, the little boy who was so badly hurt in a wreck in which five people were killed two weeks ago, is doing nicely in a Lexington Hospital and will recover.”

The World War II Honor Roll, American Battle Monuments Commission, records Albert McClain, died 31 Mar 1944, Private First Class, U.S. Army Air Force, 534th Bomber Squadron, 381st Bomber Group, interred in Cambridge American Cemetery, Plot F, Row 7, Grave 101, Cambridge, England.

In 1930 he was listed with his paternal grandfather, George McClain, the relationship incorrectly recorded as son.