As part of her work on the Smithsonian Channel film A Star-Spangled Story: Battle for America, filmmaker Molly Hermann had the up-close opportunity to reflect on her personal connections to the song and the flag that inspired it.   As ubiquitous as grass in a yard or mailboxes along the roadside, for Americans, our flag is the king-daddy of symbols. We planted one on the moon. Visitors tour Washington, D.C., every year wearing them on their t-shirts. The search to make sense of the 9/11 attacks caused such a run on flags you couldn't buy one for a month. As children, we pledge…

Our crew was having dinner in New York City when we heard Osama bin Laden had been found and killed. We grabbed a cab back to our hotel so we could watch President Obama’s speech and on the way told the cabbie what had happened. He was so excited he could barely drive—trying to tune the radio in, asking us to tell him a second time. Later, the criticism of people celebrating made me think of that New York cab driver. He wasn’t vindictive; he was just so glad that part of a long, sad chapter of that city’s history…