We’re learning fast. We have started trying to go through the piles of papers and boxes and bags and what have you that my mother stashed away in what has become a small storage room off the garage of her 1942-era house in Kahala.

The game plan to to create separate areas and then sort. One pile to go directly into the trash. One pile to go to Goodwill or one of the charitable groups that collect and sell to Savers. One pile that might have enough value to put on eBay or hold for a garage sale. One pile of things with historical value to be offered to interested archives, if any. And one pile of the keepers.

It’s a slow process, because you never know what was thrown together and dumped in a box years ago.

So here are some bits we didn’t expect.

They were in a small plastic bag, now disintegrating. They appear to be military insignia of different sorts. Did Kamehameha have ROTC in the 1930s? UH? And who gave them to our mother? A mystery, and we’re looking for leads.

Anyway, here’s the stash.

I found a modern version of the top one online, described as an Army ROTC “torch of knowledge” insignia. So this one has been around a long time and apparently is still used.

This next one appears to be standard issue. I don’t see anything distinctive.

But this next patch is pretty distinctive. Does it represent a particular unit?

And, finally:

Is that a stylized KS within the wreath (for Kamehameha Schools), or are we just reading something into it?