©Mark Ollig
This marks the 60th year the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) will be tracking the flight path of Santa Claus and his famous reindeer sleigh team Christmas Eve.
“In addition to our day-to-day mission of defending North America, we are proud to carry on the tradition of tracking Santa as he travels along his yuletide flight,” said Gen. Terrence O’Shaughnessy, commander of NORAD, and US Northern Command. “The same radars, satellites, and interceptors employed on Dec. 24 are used year-round to protect Canada and the United States.”
It’s quite an interesting story on how NORAD, formerly called the North American Air Defense, began tracking Santa and his sleigh team.
NORAD’s 1958 predecessor was CONAD (Continental Air Defense Command).
CONAD became NORAD in 1958, the same year NASA began.
Dec. 24, 1955, the Sears, Roebuck and Company department store, located in Colorado Springs, CO, placed an advertisement in the local newspaper.
This ad showed a picture of a smiling, white-bearded Santa, and the direct telephone number children could dial to talk to him Christmas Eve.
“Hey, Kiddies! . . . Call me on my private phone and I will talk to you personally, anytime day or night, or come in and visit me at Sears Toyland,” the newspaper ad read.
Unbeknownst to the newspaper, they had mistakenly printed the wrong telephone number for Santa; one of the digits was incorrect.
The incorrect telephone number rang a very special telephone located at CONAD headquarters.
Dec. 24, 1955, US Air Force Col. Harry Shoup, director of CONAD operations, was on duty at CONAD headquarters in Colorado Springs.
CONAD had a confidential, air defense telephone hotline used only for national emergencies; such as alerting CONAD personnel of any imminent military attacks against the US.
This hotline rang a red desk telephone, near the director of operations.
Can you guess what the telephone number was for this phone?
Yes, you are correct. It was the same telephone number being advertised in the newspaper for the kids to call Santa on.
Years later, Col. Shoup retold the story of what happened on Christmas Eve in 1955.
“The red phone was ringing, and it’s either the Pentagon calling or the four-star General Partridge. I was all shook up,” Shoup recalled, thinking an attack may have begun.
“So, I picked it up and said, Sir, this is Col. Shoup.”
There was only silence.
“Sir, this is Col. Shoup,” he repeated.
“Sir, can you read me alright?” asked Col. Shoup, who said he believed a military general was on the other end of the line.
Suddenly, Col. Shoup hears a young girls’ voice asking, “Are you really Santa Claus?”
Col. Shoup looked around the room at the faces of his office personnel and sternly stated in a loud voice, “Somebody’s playing a joke on me, and this isn’t funny!”
“Would you repeat that?” demanded Col. Shoup into the phone, believing it was a prankster randomly dialing telephone numbers.
“Are you really Santa Claus?” the timid voice on the other end of the telephone line repeated.
At this time, Col. Shoup was informed by one of his office personnel of the local newspaper’s advertisement mistake.
Learning this, Col. Shoup’s demeanor quickly changed.
Instead of disappointing the little girl, he decided he would answer her as Santa would, saying, “Have you been a good little girl?”
The little girl said she knew Santa would be coming down the fireplace at her house, and she was leaving some food there for him and the reindeer.
“Oh, boy! They sure will appreciate that!” Col. Shoup recalls telling the now happy little girl on the telephone.
Col. Shoup then instructed his office team to “act as Santa’s helpers” whenever a child called the hotline number.
He also had his radar operator check for signs of Santa’s progress as his sleigh team traveled from the North Pole so it could be reported to the children.
Christmas Eve in 1955, CONAD’s red hotline telephone was “ringing off the hook” with children wanting to talk with Santa.
The children calling were provided updates on where Santa Claus and his globe-circling reindeer sleigh team were located, via CONAD’s radar tracking system.
From that time on, Col. Shoup became known as “The Santa Colonel.”
He reportedly cherished this nickname until his passing March 14, 2009.
A NORAD interview of Col. Shoup talking about the special Christmas Eve of 1955, can be seen here, http://tinyurl.com/bytes-Santa1.
The official NORAD Tracks Santa website features holiday music, games, official Santa Tracker Countdown Clock, and other fun activities at http://www.noradsanta.org.
The official NORAD website is http:www.norad.mil.
A photo of the Dec. 24, 1955 Colorado Springs newspaper ad can be seen here, http://tinyurl.com/bytes-sanata2.
On Dec. 24, kids (or anyone) may call or text 1-877-HiNORAD for Santa’s reindeer team’s current location.
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| Sears, Roebuck and Company department store advertisement |
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| Santa's helpers at NORAD |
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| US Air Force Col. Harry Shoup |