geronimo
By brothertuck
@brothertuck (1257)
United States
September 8, 2009 3:07pm CST
In 1940, the night before their first mass jump, U.S. paratroopers at Fort Benning
watched the 1939 film Geronimo, in which the actor playing Geronimo yells his
name as he leaps from a high cliff into a river, depicting a real-life escape Geronimo
successfully attempted in which he jumped off Medicine Bluff at Fort Sill, Oklahoma,
into the Medicine Creek with his Cadillac horse. Private Aubrey Eberhardt announced
he would shout the name when he jumped from the airplane to prove he was not
scared. The trend has since caught on elsewhere, becoming widely associated with
any sort of high jump in popular culture.
1 response
@cloudwatcher (6861)
• Australia
8 Sep 09
I'll try to remember that if I am ever forced to jump off a high cliff or something similar, but I rather fancy I'd be calling something different.
Interesting. Thanks.
@brothertuck (1257)
• United States
11 Sep 09
I figure if I am going to be falling from that high of a height I would be using one of a choice of 4 letter words myself, not Geronimo.
@cloudwatcher (6861)
• Australia
18 Sep 09
Well, I don't think I'd be using a four letter word, but I'm sure it wouldn't be Geronimo.
Thanks Tuck. Is it the same Tuck as on "U E"?
