Promoted to lieutenant colonel on 1 March 1934, McClellan performed a brief tour at the end of the occupation of Haiti from 15 June to 15 August that same year. After a few months at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, he was sent to Shanghai to serve with the 4th Marine Regiment briefly before being diverted to the Philippines again. There, he commanded the Marine Barracks at the Cavite Navy Yard until his retirement on 30 June 1936.