Prior
to Christmas 1957, the Sears store in Colorado Springs published a list
of phone numbers and invited youngsters to phone Santa Claus with their
wish list. One of the numbers published was one digit different from the
unlisted number of the North American Defense Command. You can imagine
what happened.
Inevitably,
one youngster reached the combat operations center. NORAD staffers played
along and expanded the idea. What better place than NORAD to use radar to
track Santa's journey each Christmas? A script was developed and written
by Barney. What had been expected to be a one-time event is now a continuing
tradition.