‘Fighting Fifth’ changing command
By Gidget Fuentes - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Jun 20, 2007 16:20:53 EDT

OCEANSIDE, Calif. — The Marine Corps’ oldest and most decorated infantry regiment, whose war-fighting prowess from Belleau Wood to Fallujah has tallied scores of medals for valor and countless tales of combat heroics, will get a new leader Thursday, officials said.

Col. Larry Nicholson will hand over command of the roughly 5,000 leathernecks and sailors with 5th Marines to Col. Patrick Malay, a combat veteran and former battalion commander, during a late-afternoon ceremony outside the regimental headquarters at Camp Pendleton’s Camp San Mateo.

Nicholson, who recently led the “Fighting Fifth” and Regimental Combat Team 5 through a 13-month tour in Iraq, will leave for the Washington, D.C., area where he will be assigned to Marine Corps Combat Development Command. He has been selected for promotion to brigadier general.

A native of Toronto, Nicholson graduated from The Citadel in Charleston, S.C., in 1979 and served with several infantry battalions, including 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines; 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines; and 1st Battalion, 9th Marines. He also served with 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion and 2nd Marine Division before taking command of 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marines, in 1999.

On Sept. 14, 2004, hours after taking command of 1st Marines in Iraq, Nicholson was seriously wounded in an enemy attack at Camp Fallujah and evacuated to the States. He returned to Iraq three months later, serving as an operations officer with 1st Marine Division, and took command of 5th Marines at Camp Pendleton in July 2005.

Malay, a native of Buffalo, N.Y., commanded 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, during a tour that included combat operations in the battle for Fallujah in late 2004. Four of the six Navy Cross medals awarded to members of 3/5 during the Iraq war were for operations in that city.

Malay enlisted in the Corps in 1981 and served with 25th Marines before getting his commission in 1984. He has served with 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines; 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion; and 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion. Malay was also assigned to the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center in Bridgeport, Calif.

He served as the inspector-instructor for 24th Marines’ Bravo Company in Saginaw, Mich., and has served tours with I Marine Expeditionary Force’s Special Operations Training Group, U.S. European Command and 1st Marine Division. He also commanded Marine Corps Security Force Company-Diego Garcia.

Malay most recently completed a year of schooling at the Army War College in Carlisle, Pa.

Ellie