Family shows its patriotism

American flags of all shapes and sizes dot the yards and streets of Palmer, hanging from eaves and flapping from automobile antennas. But one house stands out even among all this red, white, and blue.

The staircase leading to the front door of 473 N. Alaska St. is bedecked in banners of stars and stripes. Billowing patriotic sashes hang beneath two large windows. Beside the front door, a twig wreath is decorated in American colors and a sign that reads, "Sweet land of liberty. USA all the way."

"We always have kept a flag on our antenna," Michelle Nielsen said of the small flags decorating the two trucks parked out front.

But after four commercial jets were commandeered by hijackers and intentionally crashed on the East Coast last week, the Nielsen family joined thousands of other Americans who wanted to use the red-white-and-blue to make a statement to the world.

The day after the attacks, Nielsen went to Wal-Mart to purchase a large flag to hang outside their Palmer house. Among the greeting cards, she found a dwindling supply of the stars and stripes, but managed to round up the two stairway banners and two window sashes.

"There were just a couple left," Nielsen said.

But together with the flags she already owned, it was enough to turn her house into a symbol of patriotism.

"We wanted to show our support to everyone who has been affected and also show our strength and sense of unity," Nielsen said.

Nielsen said she was even thinking of painting a large American flag on the side of the house itself.

"But my husband did veto that one," she said with a laugh.

When her husband, Andy Nielsen, returned this week from a nearly two-month job in a remote Alaska village, he didn't find any stars and stripes permanently painted onto his house. But he did notice the new flags and banners, along with a small hand-written sign on the door that read, "Welcome home, Daddy."

"They did a nice job," he said of the decorations.

Nielsen describes her family as always having a patriotic streak. Her husband is a former Marine, and her family is "military all the way back to my grandpas," Nielsen said. But as they have across the country, the recent attacks have only strengthened the Nielsens' loyalty.

Nielsen said that when their 16-year-old daughter heard of the terrorist attacks, she immediately wanted to fly to New York to help the victims. Instead, the family donated canned foods to one of the churches and gave blood.

"That's as far as we could go," Nielsen said.

The full-time mom said she has tried to help her six children deal with the tragedies. The teen-agers in the family, Nielsen said, are able to discuss the many aspects of the situation on a more adult level. For the younger ones, much of the political nuances are beyond their grasp. But even they know something has changed.

Nielsen said her 5-year-old son kept pointing out the numerous flags around town and said, "They have an American flag. They have an American flag. They have them up because Americans died."

The Nielsens have never been a big TV-watching family, Nielsen said, but she said she has been trying to keep up with the steady flow of information coming from the crash sites since last Tuesday.

"But sometimes we just turn the TV off. They don't need to be bombarded with it," she said of her children.

But armed with as much information as she can gather and a strong sense of patriotism, even Nielsen said the country's path is not a clear one. When asked what she would like to see America do in response to the attacks, she said, "That's a hard one . . . You feel like something has to be done, but I would hate to see an all-out war."

In the end, Nielsen seems definite about just one aspect of the terrorist attacks -- they have brought out the true colors of her neighbors. She described how a group of children gathered at a street corner in Palmer recently, waving flags and cheering for America.

"I thought that was just awesome," she said.

These displays of courage and patriotism are signs that the terrorists haven't won, in Nielsen's view.

"Whatever purpose they had for their attacks, I don't think they accomplished it," she said.