Posted on 02/17/2018 5:06:13 AM PST by harpygoddess
February 17th is the anniversary of the death in 1909 of that legendary Chiricahua Apache chieftain, Geronimo (born ca. 1829), whose actual Indian name was Goyathlay ("One Who Yawns"). The name by which Geronimo is remembered was supposedly bestowed on him by a detachment of Mexican soldiers so stunned by the ferocity of his resistance that they repeatedly invoked the name of St. Jerome against him.
The reason that U.S. airborne troops yell "Geronimo!" when they jump out of airplanes has to do with a 1939 movie entitled Geronimo which was viewed by a group of early paratroopers (the Parachute Test Platoon in Fort Benning, Georgia) in 1940. The concept of jumping from planes with parachutes was nerve-racking, and in order to demonstrate his bravery one of them planned to yell:
The other soldiers gave him a hard time. They were all scared. Of course he was scared, too. He should just admit it.
"All right, dammit!” Eberhardt finally shouted. “I’ll 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!"
The next day, he made good on his promise. Out the plane he went and everyone heard “Geronimooooooo!” The rest of the platoon wasn’t about to let Eberhardt show them up, so on subsequent jumps the rest of the soldiers took up his battle cry and a tradition was born. The next year, the Army’s first official parachute unit, the 501st Parachute Infantry Battalion, made “Geronimo” the motto on their unit insignia after their commander tracked down descendants of the real Geronimo to ask for their permission to use his name.
(Excerpt) Read more at vaviper.blogspot.com ...
And you state “Bad luck.” When did you serve to claim/state “never.” I did yell Geronimo once.
I am Airborne qualified, Jump School at Benning for 3 weeks in Feb-Mar 81 and then in the 101st. Next question.
Exactly, one thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three, check canopy, bicycle out of your risers were twisted, feet and knees together and notice how quiet it is floating down to earth.
C 123 three times for me in jump school and C141 twice, then mostly C141 and C130s afterwards.
You want another? OK. How many years were you on jump status?
I don’t think you can quit once you are in the plane with a parachute. No, I didn’t quit. I left ft Benning with a sw=eat of wings and a lot of bruises.
Sounds like you have been there and done that.
Becoming a paratrooper was not easy, it was one of the proudest day of my life when I earned my wings. (Although in time I discovered earning a Combat Infantryman’s Badge was a little harder).
It makes more sense than screaming “Doug!”
Ping
“Chingachgook!”
About 3 and a half before I left Campbell for Europe. And you?
Geronimo was no fool. He would never have jumped out of a perfectly good airplane.
We did our 5th and graduation jump in March and it was likely too windy to have jumped but you know what they used to say about the graduation jump...we’ll bring the wings to your funeral. I got a concussion on that jump but lived through it. And you are right, getting those wings was a high point in my life. When I arrived at Campbell, I went right into Air Assault School and got those wings too. I had the pleasure of being a platoon leader at jump school and company commander at Air Assault school so at jump school the two platoon leaders and CO had our own Black Hat just for our entertainment. Same thing again at Air Assault school. They made sure I was busy all day during training. The high point of the day for me at jump school was hearing “Officers Fall Out!” when we got back to the barracks. I headed straight for the BOQ, my shower and my bed. :))
9 years on AD before MEB.
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