"In 1955, Sears Roebuck & Co. ran an advertisement in a Colorado Springs-area newspaper with a phone number that children could call to speak with Santa. But rather than being a direct line to the North Pole, the misprinted number instead connected to a telephone on the desk of the Continental Air Defense Command's director of operations, Col. Harry Shoup."
"So when the phone rang one day that December, Col. Shoup was surprised when a small voice on the other line asked for Santa. Although initially annoyed by the call, Shoup played along, his children told StoryCorps. When the calls continued, Shoup began staffing the line with airmen to answer for Santa. On Christmas Eve, the airmen added Santa's sleigh to the glass board in the command center used to track flights over the United States."
Millions of children follow Santa's journey via the NORAD Santa Tracker, which uses military radar to track Santa's flight. The tradition began after a 1955 Sears Roebuck & Co. advertisement misprinted a phone number that connected callers to Col. Harry Shoup at Continental Air Defense Command rather than the North Pole. Shoup and his staff answered children's calls, tracked a sleigh on the command center board, and provided updates to radio stations. Shoup received letters from around the world thanking him, and NORAD later assumed responsibility for the tracker.
Read at ABC7 Los Angeles
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