By John McCann

jmccann@heraldsun.com; 419-6601

DURHAM -- Coming off Veterans Day, and approaching Thanksgiving, members of the Exchange Club of Durham gathered Monday morning at the Hilton Durham on Hillsborough Road to contemplate what it means to be a patriot.

Durham resident and club member Ernie Wendell delivered the main address to a crowd that included real patriots like Durham's Homer Riley, who by serving in World War II essentially asked what he could do for the country long before John F. Kennedy said anything about it.

"What makes a patriot?" Wendell asked. "Here's the answer. Here's my answer: 'Love, respect and duty makes a patriot. Love, respect and duty for the country,'" and for other people and for God, said Wendell, who served in the U.S. Navy.

Wendell reminded the audience of the patriots who centuries ago sailed to this country after getting fed up with Great Britain's King George III. But Wendell added that while those patriots declared their independence of earthly kings, they pledged their allegiance to the heavenly king -- God.

The affair at the Hilton Durham had to do with One Nation Under God Month wherein Exchange Clubs all over the nation aim to increase public appreciation for the roles religious faith and freedom have played in American history.

Major events like rebelling against a king certainly stir up patriotism, Wendell said. And he brought up the acts of terrorism on U.S. soil on Sept. 11, 2001, that elicited the unfurling of American flags and expressions of love for the country.

"We vowed to never let it happen again," said Wendell, who pointed out that the terrorists didn't discriminate when it came to unleashing their evil. "They murdered anyone and everyone within their reach."

Yet years before those acts of terrorism, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it's actually a citizen's right to burn an American flag in the name of free speech.

"To trash Old Glory. To stomp on it. To tear it to pieces," Wendell explained. It's just not right, he insisted.

"The emblem of this nation, after all, is the flag," Wendell said.

Joining Exchange Club of Durham President Jim Barringer at the head table was Chris McKeel of Durham's First Baptist Church. McKeel lifted his voice to sing "God Bless the USA."

Among those in the audience were City Councilman Mike Woodard, Durham County Sheriff Worth Hill and Durham Fire Department Chief Bruce Pagan Jr.

Former Durham County Sheriff Roland Leary and former Duke University basketball coach Bucky Waters attended. And Superior Court Judge Jim Hardin Jr. heard Wendell's words about the importance of the American flag before making it downtown to a fifth-floor courtroom do his part to render the sort of justice for which patriots throughout the years have fought.