Banner in Saving Private Ryan

I have a question about a banner I saw in saving private ryan. It is a red field with a white field inside of it and has four blue stars lined up down the middle of the white field. It can be seen in the movie as they are driving up to the Ryan house to deliver the news of the death of his three brothers to his mother. I have some hunches about what this banner was for, but I'm looking for verification. I believe it was displayed in windows to show how many men from each house were in the service. And I think they may have replaced the blue stars with gold stars if a member of the house was killed in action. Can anyone confirm or deny this?

 

You are very correct.

 

sweet thanks.

 

its still used in much of USA still. Though now itincludes 'hero' jobs such as Police, Fire-Fighting-paramedic, and Emergency workers in high rish fields.