Stars....

....and I wonder what they meant.
I've been gradually working my way through the house, getting rid of lots of things that Tom & I don't need, and today I brought a box up out of the basement so I could go through it. It's a box of my father's things that my mom gave me after he died, when she moved to an apartment and didn't have as much storage area. I'd glanced through it before, but never in great detail, but today I went through everything. I had to laugh, as his grade school and high school report cards were all in there--I wish I'd have seen them when I was still in school, as I'll never forget the "you can do better than a B or a C" ringing in my ears, & yet his were, like mine, just a little above average! My dad, along with his 2 brothers and both of my grandfathers, built the house that I grew up in & where my parents lived for over 50 years----in the box were the original plans, along with a good many receipts for the original building materials.......his High School diploma,  his honorable discharge from the Marines, his Master Plumber license, and a little box containing his High School ring & these 4 stars. 
I wondered if they were from his time in the service, but Tom's comment when I asked him was: "Only if your dad was a 4 star general!" 
(he wasn't). So I'm wondering where they came from & why they were important enough for him to keep all those years. It's a mystery, & one I'll never know the answer to since my mom is gone as well. But I plan on handing them over to my sister, along with his H.S. ring, as I'm sure one of my nephews would be thrilled to have them!  :))