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An American Cold War warrior put the world in touch with Santa's most secret sleigh ride. His successors gave Santa an Internet address.
Each December, North American Aerospace Defense Command's tracking facilities in Colorado are abuzz as volunteer airmen entertain a room full of giddy kids on a speakerphone.
One connection is so clear that service members hear the kids gasp collectively at one word: Santa.
In a 45-year tradition, North Americans nurture the world's perception of Santa during his busy Christmas season, tracking his journey on radar and telling everyone about it, live and on the Web.
The original anti-hero in this tender tale is an airman - a tough guy with a big heart. If Arnold Schwarzenegger needed a military consultant to beef up his tough guy characters, Col. Harry Shoup would have been the authentic person.
In 1955, America's Air Force was eight years old. The Cold War was under way, and NORAD did not exist. Its top-secret predecessor - Continental Air Defense Command - was at Ent Air Force Base in downtown Colorado Springs.
Colonel Shoup's commander was Gen. Earle Partridge, and the colonel would phone him with unidentified aircraft warnings from his position as director of the command's combat operations center. The general would, in turn, phone Gen. Curtis E. LeMay, leader of the Strategic Air Command and its nuclear forces.
The colonel tore through his headquarters' lot on a motor scooter to save steps around his blockhouse, referred to as the "Ulcer Palace." It was described by a Pennsylvania reporter in 1955 as a windowless, three-story "restricted area of restricted areas."
It was an exciting time to be...