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Saint Nicolas sighted - Radar has him!

USA, NORAD Celebrates 50 Years Of Tracking St. Nick

A Wrong Number Started A Holiday Tradition
The North American Aerospace Defense Command is observing
its 50th anniversary of tracking Santa Claus on his
annual rounds, NORAD officials told Aero-News Thursday.



The tradition of tracking Santa began in 1955.

That's when a local Sears, Roebuck and Co. store ran
a newspaper ad urging children to make a phone call
on Christmas Eve and talk to Santa Claus.

There was just one problem: as fate would have it,
the phone number was misprinted and -- instead of
reaching Santa -- youngsters found themselves talking
with Air Force Col. Harry Shoup of the Continental
Air Defense Command at Cheyenne Mountain.

Rather than hanging up, Shoup and his troops answered
every child's call that night with a report of Santa's
location.

CONAD personnel kept up the practice until 1958, when
NORAD was formed and took over Santa-tracking duties.

NORAD has continued the Santa tracking tradition for
several reasons, according to Air Force Master Sgt.
John Tomassi, co-director of Santa-tracking operations.



'I think in the initial stages, back in the '50s and
'60s, it was just a novelty kind of thing,' he said.

'A lot of people -- children and their families --
do this tracking Santa as a tradition in their family.

We've recognized now that people have taken this program
as a tradition, and what we can do is educate them.'

'We do track Santa,' he continued. 'However, we do
provide for the defense of the North American aerospace
also.

We use the satellites to track Santa, we use the radar,
we use jet fighters, but all of those exact same things
are what we use to monitor the aerospace of North America.'

While youngsters are tracking Santa's flight, they
may also learn a thing or two about the world around
them, Tomassi said.

'We think of it as a geography lesson,' said he explained,
'because the different places that Santa visits or
sightings that we have, a lot of people haven't heard
of.

If we can get some children to go and look at a map
to find out where Timbuktu is, or where India is, or
Pakistan, or wherever, then we feel all the better
for that.'

Last Christmas Eve, volunteers at Cheyenne Mountain
answered nearly 55,000 phone calls and 35,000 e-mails
from children around the world.

During December 2004, the NORAD Tracks Santa Web site
had 912 million hits from 181 countries.

This year, about 500 volunteers - most of them
US and Canadian military personnel
and their families -

Will report for Telephone-Answering Duty on Christmas
Eve.

But already, youngsters are sending messages to Santa
via

the NORAD Tracks Santa Web site and email address.


'E-mails are arriving from India
and
Ireland
and
all over the world
already
from children with their wish lists
who want to talk to Santa,'
Tomassi said.

'We receive, on average, 200 e-mails a day.'

(Aero-News Salutes Army Sgt. 1st Class Gail Braymen
is assigned to North American Aerospace Defense Command
public affairs.)

goto:

live tracking info,
by telephone in USA tollfree and all calls are free.
not a fee call.
1 for longdistance then 877 HiNorad
or US code and
877 446 6723

Goto www.noradsanta.org

santa's email

santa tracking emails:
if sighted or heard email


www.norad.mil

St Nick, Mrs. Santa, and the jolly ChristMas elves
would be glad to hear from you !

Call
and
Email.

Dancing on clouds,

Keep it up!

Be of Good Heart.

Jim Culp
GatorCity Florida
Asw-20C

Jim Culp wrote:

Saint Nicolas sighted - Radar has him!

USA, NORAD Celebrates 50 Years Of Tracking St. Nick

http://www.denverpost.com/quillen/ci_3324773

For a the rest of the story.

Shawn