CAMP PENDLETON – Brig. Gen. Daniel Yoo, who led the last battalion to Afghanistan and oversaw the withdrawal of Marine combat forces there, on Thursday took over command of the storied 1st Marine Division headquartered at this seaside base.

Maj. Gen. Lawrence Nicholson handed over command of the 23,000-strong division in a spirited ceremony that put the 1st Division Band front and center at the division’s headquarters. Breaking from tradition, band members played a Van Morrison tune, “Brown-Eyed Girl,” and The Mamas & the Papas’ “California Dreamin,’” along with the more expected “Battle Hymn of the Republic” and John Philip Sousa’s “The Stars and Stripes Forever.”

“If you liked the song selection, it was all me,” Nicholson quipped.

Yoo, 55, is the first Korean American general in the Marine Corps. He leaves his post as the 1st Division’s assistant commander to take on the new leadership role. He is a graduate of Arizona State University and was commissioned in the Marine Corps in 1985 as second lieutenant. Yoo commanded infantry and reconnaissance units and also served at the Pentagon and with the Marine Corps Forces Special Operation Command. He is a Marine combatant diver, a military freefall parachutist, and a graduate of the U.S. Army Ranger School.

In January 2013, Yoo led Camp Pendleton’s last deployment to Afghanistan, when the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward) deployed to oversee the Afghan elections in April that year and devise a plan to leave the country.

The ceremony Thursday included at least 10 generals and their wives, community members, veterans, retired Marine Corps leaders and two Gold Star families. Marines from the 1st Marine Regiment and the 11th Marine Regiment stood in formation on the parade deck.

“Thank you for your genuine and unique style of leadership,” Yoo said to Nicholson. “I look forward to serving with you,” he told his new division.

Nicholson lauded Carla and Jim Hogan of San Clemente and U.S. Navy Cmdr. William Krissoff and his wife, Christine, of San Diego. Both families lost their sons in combat.

Lance Cpl. Donald Hogan was killed Aug. 26, 2009, in Afghanistan. The 20-year-old was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for sacrificing his own life to keep others away from a bomb. 1st Lt. Nathan Krissoff, a counterintelligence officer for a reconnaissance battalion, was killed on Dec. 9, 2006, in Iraq.

Nicholson said he became close with both families when their sons died under his watch.

“How do you grieve, how do you get around that and move forward?” Nicholson asked.

Both families kept close ties with the Marine Corps and their sons’ legacies. The Hogans started Socks for Heroes and William Krissoff, an orthopedic surgeon, left private practice to join the Navy and care for wounded Marines and sailors.

“I have been blessed and served with incredible talent,” Nicholson said.

Nicholson was confirmed this week as a three-star general and will take over command of the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force based in Okinawa, Japan. “This is the best job in the Marine Corps,” he said about his service in the 1st Division.

Lt. Gen. David Berger, commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, said Nicholson was a gifted leader who set personal examples for his Marines and helped cement the warrior spirit in the division.

“You trained hard, held people accountable and showed pride in the unit,” Berger said. “If you hadn’t been a Marine, you should have been a football coach. You instilled the belief that you can win and to operate as a team. I can’t thank you enough. Thank you for the last two years.”

The 1st Marine Division is the Corps’ oldest and largest active-duty division. It’s made of 23,000 Marines and sailors from Camp Pendleton and Twentynine Palms Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center. There are three infantry regiments, one artillery regiment, tank units, amphibious assault vehicles, light armored vehicles, combat engineers, reconnaissance Marines, headquarters and the 1st Division Marine Corps band.

Marines in the 1st Division have served on the beaches of Guadalcanal, in the mountains of Korea, the jungles of Vietnam and the deserts of Iraq and Afghanistan. It was activated Feb. 1, 1941.

Yoo will lead the division until September, when he will go to Florida and serve in U.S. Special Operations Command. Maj. Gen. Daniel O’Donohue, commander of Marine Forces Cyber Command, is expected to take over the 1st Division command then.

At present, Marines from the division are serving in 15 countries worldwide. A special Marine Air Ground Task Force is deployed to Iraq to offer training and support for Iraqi forces.

Contact the writer: 714-796-2254 or eritchie@ocregister.com Twitter:@lagunaini