What's "Geronimo"?
It seems like a pretty random thing to yell when jumping from a bridge, cliff, or plane, but it’s actually a tradition of military paratroopers. But how did paratroopers come up with it?
It dates all the way back to the origin of paratroopers. In 1940, the Army was still developing the strategy of dropping troops out of planes. On the eve of the first test jump, soldiers from from Fort Benning started a night of drinking with a viewing of a wild west movie — likely the 1939 film “Geronimo” starring Andy Devine and Chief Thundercloud.
After the movie, Pvt. Aubrey Eberhardt boasted that he wasn’t scared of the jump, despite being the tallest man in the unit. This caused his fellow soldiers to call him out on his bragging, saying he would forget his name at the door, as the troops were supposed to shout their name when they jumped.
Everyone in their jump group successfully jumped — all the soldiers remembered their names and shouted them as they made their jumps. The 6’8″ Eberhardt did them one better — when his turn at the door came, he shouted “Geronimo!” — and a high flying, brave new tradition was born.
LOCATION
6749 Farm to Market 2920, Spring, TX 77379
(Geronimo is located at the end of Lee Road, near U-Haul)
See Google map.
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