Drafted into AAF in 1942 at age 20 while living in Gary, Ind. Assigned to Eighth Air Force. Assigned as gunner to B-24 crew headed by pilot Joseph H. Hardison while training at Tucson, Ariz. Later transferred to 389th Bomb Group, 565th Bomb Squadron as part of B-24 crew led by pilot Harold L. James for training at El Paso, Texas. Arrived at assigned airfield, RAF Hethel, in England in mid June 1943. 

In early July went with crew to fly bombing missions out of Benghazi, Libya, on detached service as 389th joined one other Eighth AF group and three from the Ninth. Flew on three missions while there: 9 July to Crete (Maleme airdrome) and 16 July to airdrome at Bari, Italy; and to Ploesti, Romania, on 1 August as part of Operation Tidal Wave when 389th's target was the Steau Romana oil refinery at nearby Campina, in B-24D 42-40744. 

Flew the Crete and Bari missions as ball turret gunner and the Ploesti as left waist gunner. Perhaps one of his most unforgettable bombing experiences was the Bari when, according to pilot Harold James, as the plane fled the bombing site he spoke over the intercom from the claustrophic confines of the ball turret: "Don't forget about me." 


Also flew in B-24s #42-40687 and #42-40171. 

Low on fuel after the low-level Campina strike, the plane landed in Turkey, a neutral country where the plane and crew were indefinitely interned among about 79 Tidal Wave airmen and their several bombers. 

After returning to England, McLaren, having been interned, was thus eligible to be exempted from additional bombing missions. Chose to do so and served out remainder of war assigned to a ground crew.