Santa-deniers aren't going to like this one...
If you live in the United States and you tune into the news during the holiday season, you're probably familiar with the famous NORAD Santa Tracker.
While Jolly St. Nick flies around the world in his sleigh, none other than the North American Aerospace Defense Command is able to nail down exactly where he is.
While Chris Cringle himself seems to be elusive to most of the world, NORAD has in fact built a solid profile on him, even though they can't explain some of the magical phenomenon they've observed.
But why does NORAD care about Santa Claus and track his location every year? The backstory as to why it started in the first place is unbelievably wholesome.
During the cold war, NORAD (Formerly CONAD) served as one of our first lines of defense — as soon as soviet bombers got in the air, NORAD would spring into action and start tracking them should they dare tread into North American air space. They had a direct "red phone" line to the pentagon for instantaneously communicating with the president and the top brass of the entire US Military during serious incidents or emergencies.
This, alongside the constant "Strategic Air Command" arctic patrols of B-52 bombers ready to strike Russia should we choose to, the 50s and 60s wasn't all jingle bells & chestnuts roasting over an open fire. The Cold war was still, sadly, in full swing.
In the winter of 1955, a Sears Roebuck & Co ad in the Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph was running a fun promotion for the holiday season — a direct phone line with Santa Claus. But due to a misprint in the ad, by sheer (bad) luck, calls were directed to the top secret, unlisted "Red Phone" line at NORAD.
Story goes, one night in December, Colonel Harry Shoup received the first call from a young girl asking for Santa Claus. At first, Shoup was furious, thinking the call was some kind of prank, asking "This is Col. Shoup, the commander of the Combat Alert Center in Colorado Springs. Who's this?" The little girl calling was frightened. And after being scolded as a prankster subordinate, then tearfully asked if Shoup was one of Santa's Helpers.
The Colonel realized what was happening, and humorously decided to play along, putting on his best Santa Claus impresion. "Ho Ho Ho", he said, "This isn't one of Santa's Helpers, this is Santa Claus."
He'd later learn about the misprinted newspaper ad and instructed the crew at NORAD to take the calls anyways, and report where Santa Claus was.
The servicemen at NORAD really got into the spirit of it — an officer drew the sleigh on the large illuminated-glass board they'd use to document movement of soviet jets & bombers. Col. Shoup reportedly told him "You leave it right there" insisting that they actually do keep track of the sleigh on the official board. This impromptu decision is what changed this from an isolated incident to a world-renowned tradition of the US Military.
Col. Shoup even called in to a local radio station to give a report: "This is the commander at the Combat Alert Center, and we have an unidentified flying object. Why, it looks like a Sleigh!"
Morale was high, and holiday spirits were higher. Real NORAD operators and the Colonel answered calls to give the precise, radar-confirmed location of Santa Claus' sleigh year after year. It relieved the pressure on the military for being on high alert for actual nuclear threats and certainly brought a smile to the NORAD crew. High command & civilians alike loved it.
In 1997, NORAD launched the first official Santa Tracker website, which brought the tradition onto the world wide web. It was pretty much necessary to do this as the tradition had become so well known all over the world that they could barely handle all the phone calls on Christmas Eve that would overwhelm the base's phone lines.
Since 2004, NORAD reports that they've been using Rudolph's nose as a means to track the sleigh's heat signature in the same way that missile launches are detected, with geosynchronous satellites. They collaborate and share their precise data with Google to show the location of the sleigh live on Google maps so everyone can see when he flies over their house at unthinkable speeds allegedly "functioning within his own time-space continuum" delivering presents to all.
F-18s, F16s, and F22 fighter jets are also employed to escort Santa when he enters North American air space, according to NORAD. Canadian and US Air force pilots greet St. Nick, capture "sleigh cam" videos of him and ensure his safe transit over the continent. Although allegedly Santa has to slow down his sleigh for our even our most advanced Fighter Jets to keep up, and the true speed of the sleigh is "Highly Classified".
What might be the best part and perhaps the most in-Christmas-spirit is that this entire operation doesn't use US Taxpayer money (at least directly) to fund it. The servers, phones, tracking software, and the countless other resources that carry out the tradition are provided through the means of private & corporate donations. And of course, there's a literal army of people volunteering. People take off the precious days around the holidays to ensure that Operation Santa Claus is carried out successfully every year for Children & families around the globe to have a happy holiday season.
To this day, even on Christmas eve, they answer hundreds of thousands of phone calls and provide their very same satellite-confirmed tracking.
So, what of the man who started it all? His legacy is undoubtedly enormous for what first started as a humorous act of kindness towards one child in the height of the Cold War. Col. Shoup had a long and decorated career in the military serving in both WWII and Korea, but his service to the children of the USA and the whole world earned him the nickname "Santa Colonel". He took his newfound duty very proudly and through his eighties — reportedly carrying the thank-you letters received from all over the world in a locked briefcase like one would with classified, top-secret information.
After a long and distinguished life, Col. Shoup passed away in 2009 at age 92 with his most important achievements permanently carved onto his gravestone:
US AIR FORCE
WWII KO VN
LOM & OLC (Legion of Merit & Oak Leaf Cluster)
SOLDIERS MEDAL (for saving another Airman's life)
FIGHTER PILOT
SANTA COLONEL
Both the tradition of NORAD's Santa-Tracking and his legacy of spreading Christmas joy worldwide will certainly far outlive the man himself — rest in peace, Colonel.
Second only to a few other stories we're aware of where humanity puts its differences aside to celebrate the holidays worldwide, we think that the story of Shoup & the countless people at NORAD volunteering to bring holiday cheer serves as an example of what Christmas is all about.
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