Colonel Harry Shoup in a slightly faster sleigh.
This sleigh ride started with a misprint: In 1955 a Sears Roebuck & Company advertisement asked kids to call Santa at what was a wrong phone number. The Santa Claus number was actually the hotline for the Commander-in-Chief of the U.S.’s Continental Air Defense Command operation center.
At the height of the Cold War, the Director of Operations, Colonel Harry Shoup, had his staff check the radar for indications of Santa making his way south from the North Pole. Children who called were given updates on his location, in what appears to be the result of a clear understanding on the military’s part of what was one of the things they were willing to fight and die for.
Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus...
In 1958, the governments of Canada and the United States created a combined air defense command for North America called the North American Aerospace Defense Command, NORAD, which then took on the tradition of tracking Santa.
Since then, NORAD members, along with family and friends, volunteer their time to respond to phone calls and e-mails from children around the world. NORAD now tracks Santa using the internet. Millions of people who want to know Santa’s whereabouts now visit the NORAD Tracks Santa website – http://www.noradsanta.org/en/index.html. You can also dial 877 HI-NORAD (877-446-6723) for Santa’s location.
Beginning at 6 a.m. EST on Christmas Eve, GM’s OnStar subscribers can press the blue OnStar button in their vehicles to request a “Santa Update.” OnStar advisors will share Santa’s whereabouts through 5 a.m. EST Christmas morning using NORAD’s tracking.
And Merry Christmas to all our military personnel, veterans, and their families, wherever you are.
