Brig. Gen. Kent D. Savre, Commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, North Atlantic Division, passes the Corps flag to Col. Christopher Barron in a Change of Command ceremony today at Faneuil Hall in Boston, Mass. Barron is now the district engineer and commander of the New England District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, assuming the command from Col. Charles Samaris. The custom of acknowledging a change in command officers of a military unit is a formal ceremony and dates back to pre-Roman times. The ceremony emphasizes the continuity of leadership and unit identity, despite changes in individual authority, and symbolizes the transfer of command responsibility from one individual to another. This transfer is physically represented by passing the Command Flag, the tangible symbol of the unit, from the outgoing commander to the next senior commander to the new commander.