Looking through the eyes of history, Clark County native continues to serve his country

Throughout the history of this country, the value and importance of all those who have served and are currently serving in our armed forces can never be and should never be understated. Their service to this country continues to keep the U.S. free and a leader among nations.

Steven Caudill of Clark County feels that way. As a U.S. Army veteran who served in the First Cavalry Division as an Abrams Tank Commander, and later having served a 20-year career with the Winchester Police Department, he understands well the commitment men and women in those positions have made in the past and continue to make every day in their communities, their nation, and around the world.

But it has been his love of American history that led him to a second career that in many ways is connected to his past.

“After suffering an injury while serving as a police detective, I had several weeks off work to recover, and started studying about the life of Daniel Boone,” he said. “And the reason I did is because my sixth great-grandfather, Matthew Caudill, married a girl named Sarah Webb. Sarah Webb who was Squire Boone, Daniel's brother's granddaughter. So, it made me a direct biological descendant of Boone.”

His love of a storied family past and the history of a time period that included the French and Indian War, beginning in the 1750s, to the American Revolution, and up to the 1790s, helped Caudill create a company called Daniel Boone of Kentucky, LLC Corporation. He has also formed a company that sells authentic replicas of colonial-era clothing.

“I've become a student of American frontier history in this region, and do living history shows,” he said. Over the last 20 years, I’ve traveled all over the country as a professional historian and speaker portraying Boone and a colonial patriot.”

Because of the notoriety Caudill has achieved in bringing to life this historic period, a renowned patriotic painter, Joe Bonomo sought him out for a very special project.

“I have worked, in the past, with the Honor Flight Tri-State, (which is a part of the national Honor Flight network) and have donated artwork that was of a military significance, like a soldier or a battle group, and that was very harmonious or appropriate for Honor Flight.,” he said.

Nationally, since 2005, the Honor Flight Network has flown over 275,000 veterans to see their memorials.

During a conversation with the Honor Flight people last year, Bonomo suggested doing something very specific and more meaningful for the organization.

“I came up with the idea of using a patriot for the main focus of my painting because it embodied all the service groups,” he said. “In knowing what the theme was going to be I started looking for someone who could pose for me and carry on the persona of a patriot.”

Thanks to a search on the internet, Bonomo found Caudill and made contact with him to take some photos to be used for the painting. And while Caudill wasn't aware of the Honor Flight involvement at first, he agreed to let Bonomo photograph him as a patriot. And the rest, as they say, is history.

“Within days he had a draft of the image and we met for lunch when Joe told me it had been picked for a 2024 Honor Flight,” Caudill said.  “And I am deeply honored to be a part of this.”

Caudill will be making the trip dressed as the patriot during the May Tri-State Honor Flight and has been given the honor of laying the wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  

“This is a great honor, but it is not about me,” he said. “It’s about those who have served our country and will be visiting their respective memorials in Washington D.C. that commemorate their service, and the ones who gave their lives for this country.”

Cheryl Popp, the board chair and flight director of Honor Flight Tri-State, said she is thrilled to be working with artist Joe Bonomo and Steven Caudill on the “ Patriot project”.

“The patriot represented in the painting is based on the re-enactment of a patriot from the Revolutionary War,” she said. “These soldiers fought from the very beginning for the American dream of Freedom, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness and their vision has made this country the best on earth. The veterans that we serve at Honor Flight are the ones that have followed in their footsteps and preserved that legacy.”

To learn more about Honor Flights Tri-State, go to www.honorflighttristate.org.