WEBVTT 00:20.666 --> 00:23.466 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% -I remember two phones on his desk. 00:23.466 --> 00:25.900 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% One was this red phone. 00:25.900 --> 00:29.400 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% Only a four-star general at the Pentagon and my dad 00:29.400 --> 00:31.400 align:left position:30% line:83% size:60% had the number. -This was the '50s, 00:31.400 --> 00:32.700 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% this was the Cold War, 00:32.700 --> 00:35.266 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% and he would have been the first one to know 00:35.266 --> 00:37.700 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% if there was an attack on the United States. 00:37.700 --> 00:41.566 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% -So, first couple of weeks of December in 1955, 00:41.566 --> 00:45.100 align:left position:20% line:5% size:70% Dad was at the office, and the red phone rang. 00:45.100 --> 00:47.400 align:left position:30% line:83% size:60% He answered it, "This is Colonel Shoup." 00:47.400 --> 00:51.066 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% And then there was a small voice that just asked, 00:51.066 --> 00:52.633 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% "Is this Santa Claus?" 00:52.633 --> 00:55.533 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% -Dad was very straight-laced, very disciplined. 00:55.533 --> 00:57.333 align:left position:30% line:83% size:60% -He was annoyed. -He was upset. 00:57.333 --> 00:58.666 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% -He thought it was a joke. 00:58.666 --> 01:00.466 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% -Yeah, and so now the little voice was crying. 01:00.466 --> 01:02.200 align:left position:30% line:83% size:60% [ Laughs ] -And Dad realized 01:02.200 --> 01:03.766 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% that it wasn't a joke. 01:03.766 --> 01:05.733 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% So he talked to him, "Ho Ho Ho'ed," 01:05.733 --> 01:07.733 align:left position:30% line:83% size:60% and asked if he had been a good boy, 01:07.733 --> 01:10.233 align:left position:30% line:83% size:60% and, "May I talk to your mother?" 01:10.233 --> 01:12.833 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% And the mother got on and said, 01:12.833 --> 01:14.633 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% "You haven't seen the paper yet? 01:14.633 --> 01:16.800 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% There's a phone number to call Santa. 01:16.800 --> 01:18.933 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% It's in the Sears ad." 01:18.933 --> 01:23.700 align:left position:10% line:5% size:80% Dad looked it up, and there it was, his red-phone number. 01:23.700 --> 01:27.033 align:left position:20% line:5% size:70% And they had children calling one after another, 01:27.033 --> 01:29.866 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% so he put a couple of airmen on the phones 01:29.866 --> 01:31.633 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% to act like Santa Claus. 01:31.633 --> 01:34.800 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% -It got to be a big joke at the command center. 01:34.800 --> 01:37.200 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% You know, "The old man's really flipped his lid this time. 01:37.200 --> 01:39.233 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% We're answering Santa calls." 01:39.233 --> 01:42.433 align:left position:30% line:83% size:60% -The airmen had this big glass board 01:42.433 --> 01:45.100 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% with the United States on it and Canada. 01:45.100 --> 01:48.600 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% And when airplanes would come in, they would track them. 01:48.600 --> 01:52.066 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% -And Christmas Eve of 1955 when Dad walked in, 01:52.066 --> 01:55.900 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% there was a drawing of a sleigh with eight reindeer 01:55.900 --> 01:57.433 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% coming over the North Pole. 01:57.433 --> 01:59.233 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% -Dad said, "What is that?" 01:59.233 --> 02:01.000 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% They says, "Colonel, we're sorry. 02:01.000 --> 02:02.633 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% We were just making a joke. 02:02.633 --> 02:04.300 align:left position:30% line:83% size:60% Do you want us to take that down?" 02:04.300 --> 02:06.766 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% Dad looked at it for a while and next thing you know, 02:06.766 --> 02:09.466 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% Dad had called the radio station and had said, 02:09.466 --> 02:11.666 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% "This is the commander at the Combat Alert Center 02:11.666 --> 02:14.433 align:left position:30% line:83% size:60% and we have an unidentified flying object. 02:14.433 --> 02:17.133 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% Why, it looks like a sleigh!" [ Laughs ] 02:17.133 --> 02:20.400 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% Well, the radio stations would call him like every hour 02:20.400 --> 02:22.433 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% and say, "Where's Santa now?" 02:22.433 --> 02:26.000 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% And later in life, he got letters from all over the world. 02:26.000 --> 02:28.533 align:left position:30% line:83% size:60% People saying, "Thank you, Colonel, for having, 02:28.533 --> 02:30.100 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% you know, this sense of humor." 02:30.100 --> 02:33.366 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% And in his 90s, he would carry those letters around with him 02:33.366 --> 02:35.600 align:left position:30% line:83% size:60% in a briefcase that had a lock on it 02:35.600 --> 02:38.300 align:left position:30% line:5% size:60% like it was top-secret information. 02:38.300 --> 02:40.733 align:left position:30% line:83% size:60% You know, he was an important guy, 02:40.733 --> 02:43.166 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% but this is the thing he's known for. 02:43.166 --> 02:44.366 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% -Yeah, it's probably the thing 02:44.366 --> 02:45.466 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% he was proudest of too. [ Laughs ] 02:45.466 --> 02:47.266 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% -Oh, I'm sure it was, yeah. -Right.