During WWII American paratroopers began the tradition of yelling Geronimo! after jumping out of airplanes. However Jumping and Geronimo do not really go hand in hand. Geronimo (1829-1909) was a Chiricahua Apache leader who died at Fort Sill Okalahoma at the age of 85 from pneumonia after he fell from his horse and lay on the ground all night.
The tradition has its origins in a 1939 movie called “Geronimo” that paratroopers had watched as they were beginning their paratrooper training in 1940. According to the legend after a group of paratroopers watched the movie at Fort Benning Georgia one in particular an Army private named Aubrey Eberhardt decided to shout Geronimo! as he was jumping from the pane the next day and the expression caught on.
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