“The origin of this now famous cry remains something of a mystery.”
EARLY IN THE development of American airborne forces,
the cry of “Geronimo!” became a familiar sound as paratroopers leaped
from the doors of transport planes. Yet the origin of this now famous
cry remains something of a mystery.
Geronimo, the famed chief of the Native American Apache tribe, was once imprisoned at Fort Sill, Oklahoma
— his grave is located nearby. One account holds that the paratroopers
adopted the cry after hearing that, with U.S. troops in hot pursuit,
Geronimo once leaped from a steep cliff while on horseback to evade
capture. It was a feat the soldiers were reluctant to duplicate, and
Geronimo temporarily made good his escape
Another explanation seems somewhat more plausible. In his 1979 book Paratrooper! Gerard Devlin mentions that the origin of “Geronimo!” dates to the early days of the parachute test unit at Fort Benning
in 1940. On the night before their first jump, a group of paratroopers
were enjoying a few beers while taking in a movie. Although the name of
the film is unknown, it might well have been the 1939 western Geronimo.
When the film was over and the men were walking back to their barracks,
one paratrooper by the name of Private Aubrey Eberhardt asserted that he
had no fear of the coming jump. His friends jeered and predicted that
he would be so frightened in the door of the plane that he’d probably be
unable to remember his own name.
“All right, damn it!” Eberhard shot back. “I tell you jokers what I’m
gonna do! To prove to you that I’m not scared out of my wits when I
jump, I’m gonna yell ‘Geronimo!” loud as hell when I go out that door
tomorrow!”
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