How did the word "Geronimo" become associated with jumping out of a plain? Was skydiving invented by indians?
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jaykole
ANSWERS: 1
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I suspect it has something to do with the suicide by 75 Apache warriors, probably Geronimo's warriors, and their willingness to jump off a cliff rather than be captured by the US Calvary. This may have inspired Aubrey Ebenhart as explained below. http://www.worldssmallestmuseum.com/apache_leap_mountain.htm The custom of paratroopers yelling "Geronimo!" is attributed to Aubrey Ebenhart, a member of the U.S. Army's test platoon at Fort Benning, Georgia. One evening in 1940, before testing a new type of parachute jump, the members of the test platoon went to the movies to see Geronimo (1939 with Andy Devine and Gene Lockhart). After the movie, private Ebenhart's fellow platoon members teased him for being nervous about the next day's jump. To prove that he was not nervous, he told his friends he would "yell Geronimo loud as hell when I go out that door tomorrow!," which he did. The call of the U.S. airborne troops was born. http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/4aa/4aa494b.htm
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