The Santa tracker

On 24 December 1955, US Air Force Colonel Shoup, Director of Operations at CONAD (Continental Air Defence Command), received a call in his office in Colorado Springs. This was no ordinary call. It was coming in on one of the top secret phone lines. Colonel Shoup answered the phone expecting it to be the Pentagon or a four-star general.

"Are you really Santa Claus?", a tiny voice asked.

It was from a little girl in Colorado Springs. She was following directions from a an advertisement that the local newspaper had run. The ad told children they could call to find out how far along Santa Claus was on his trip and it even included a telephone number. But the number printed was off by one digit and instead of connecting with Santa, the callers were coming to the Continental Air Defense Command!

Before long, the phone was ringing off the hook and Colonel Shoup, rather than hanging up, told his staff to give all the children that called in a "current location" for Santa Claus. It was the beginning of the Santa Tracker tradition. When the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) replaced CONAD in 1958, it kept the tradition.

NORAD's Santa Tracker has always made use of the media__ telephone hotlines, newspapers, radio and television were utilized. From 1997 to today, the NORAD Santa Tracker has been a very popular site with millions of visitors, from more than 200 countries, watching Santa's progress on Christmas Eve through the tracker.

NORAD carries out the operation with the assistance of many corporate partners and volunteers. There are more than 1,000 volunteers that answer calls and e-mails, and update the social media sites. Over the years, these volunteers have included countless numbers of Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps personnel and their families. The Canadian NORAD fighter pilots are responsible for flying the CF-18s that welcome Santa to North America.

The program starts each year on December 1st with a "Countdown Village". It features the history of the Santa Tracker, a countdown to take-off, updates from Santa's Village, and games. On Christmas Eve, a map shows Santa's launch from the North Pole and tracks him as he makes his trip around the world.

The Christmas Truce of 1914

Something incredible happened on December 24, 1914. Soldiers from both sides put down their weapons, stepped out of their trenches and enemy really did meet enemy between the trenches.

The First World War had been raging for four months. The weather that December was cold and wet. Many of the trenches were continually flooded, soldiers were covered in mud and exposed to frostbite and trench foot. They were dreading having to spend Christmas away from their families. Then something incredible happened on December 24, 1914. Soldiers from both sides put down their weapons, stepped out of their trenches and enemy really did meet enemy between the trenches. For a short time, there was peace.

There were many truces along the Western Front that Christmas, but the truce was not total. Shelling and firing continued in some parts. Some of the truces had been arranged on Christmas Eve while others were arranged on Christmas Day.

There were even arrangements which included a ruling as to when the truce would end. Along many parts of the Front Line, the truce was brought about by the arrival of miniature Christmas trees in the German trenches. Jovial voices could be heard calling out from both sides, followed by requests not to fire, then shadows of soldiers could be seen gathering in no man’s land, laughing, joking and exchanging gifts. Amongst the joy, there was sadness too, as both sides used this opportunity to seek out the bodies of their dead comrades and give them a decent burial.

The Christmas Truce of 1914 was not a unique occasion in military history. It was a return of a long established tradition. It is common in conflicts with close quarters and prolonged periods of fighting for informal truces and generous gestures to take place between enemies. Similar events have occurred in other conflicts throughout history–and they continue to occur.

Christmas in Ortona

By December of 1943, the Allies had reached the historic seaport of Ortona on Italy's Adriatic coast. The town was held by Hitler's elite paratroopers, whom he had personally ordered to defend it at all costs. The Canadian troops had quickly advanced up the eastern side of Italy and would meet the Germans at the Moro River, less than seven kilometres away from Ortona. It was hoped there would be a day or so of fighting. Instead, the Canadians had to their way into the town for eight terrible days.

On December 25, 1943, in a bombed-out church at Santa Maria di Constantinopoli, members of the Seaforth Highlanders gathered in shifts for a Christmas dinner a few blocks from the fighting.

They had scrounged the essentials for this special meal—table cloths, chinaware, beer, wine, roast pork, applesauce, cauliflower, mashed potatoes, gravy, chocolate, oranges, nuts, and cigarettes. An organist played “Silent Night” and for a few moments there was a semblance of normality as the soldiers were able to sing these words amongst the raging war. But they had to return to the fighting. For some, it would be their last meal.

The Germans withdrew two days after Christmas. The Canadians achieved their objective, but at great cost. Ortona had been liberated, ending the month that would go down in history as "Bloody December.” It was the bloodiest month of war in the Italian Campaign with 213 Canadians killed in action during that Christmas week alone. The losses suffered by the Canadians at Ortona were nearly one quarter of their total casualties in the entire Italian Campaign.

Dear Santa

In December 1944, Thérèse Perrault was nine years old, and living in Athabaska, Quebec. Although her belief in Santa Claus was not as strong as before, she still sent him several letters all the same. But she didn't ask for gifts; she asked that he give the doll she might have received to a little girl in war-torn Europe. All she really wanted was for Santa to send news of her big brother Richard, who had gone to the front. It had been months since her family had received his last letter . . .

Dear Santa,

Before going to Midnight Mass tonight, my parents stopped to visit our neighbours, the Maheu family. Mom had made meat pies and regular pies for them. I saw the pain on their faces. They were wearing black armbands to show they were in mourning. Santa Claus, why is there so much misery in the world?

When we got to Saint-Christophe church, I prayed with all my might until my knees were sore and my hands hurt from squeezing them so tight. I was hoping that my prayers would go so high up in the sky that they would reach Baby Jesus. On this holy night, I was hoping for a miracle.

At the end of the celebration, the parishioners were invited to exchange wishes of peace, love, health and prosperity. We left the church quickly. It was hard enough as it was. But there was also another mass waiting for us at home. It was being broadcasted on national radio, from London, England.

When we turned on the radio, a man was singing "Silent Night" in French. He was just about finished …

When he was done, the announcer spoke in English, and my father translated as best as he could. We heard words like "military," "Chaudière regiment," "O Holy Night," and then I heard the most beautiful voice in the world …

It was my brother Richard who was singing! My parents didn’t believe me right away, but quickly realized I was right. It was him! IT WAS REALLY HIM!!!

We all fell silent so we could listen to the rest of the Christmas carol. "O Holy Night" never sounded so beautiful to us as that night when we heard Richard sing it across the airwaves.

Excerpt from the book Lettres de décembre 1944, by Alain M. Bergeron..

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