12/24/1944
The Canadian minesweeper Clayoquot is torpedoed by U-806 off Halifax. Seventy-six survive. Eight perish.

12/24/1968
Apollo 8 safely orbits the moon.

12/25/1941
Hong Kong surrenders to the Japanese.

12/25/2009
An al Qaida-trained operative attempts to blow up a U.S. passenger plane with explosives hidden in his underwear.

12/26/1812
A naval blockade of Chesapeake and Delaware bays is proclaimed by Great Britain.

12/26/2004
Approximately 230,000 die as a tsunami, triggered by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake beneath the Indian Ocean, slams into the coastlines of more than a dozen countries.

12/27/1942
The Canadian destroyer St. Laurent and corvettes Battleford, Chilliwack and Napanee sink U-356 in the North Atlantic while escorting a westbound convoy. Credit for the sinking only comes after the war.

12/27/1960
France completes testing of its third atomic bomb blast.

12/28/1961
No. 446 SAM Squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Force is the first of two units to be equipped with the new Bomarc surface-to-air missile. The missile is a response to the perceived threat that a growing fleet of Soviet bombers poses. No. 446 Sqdn. is stationed at North Bay, Ont.

12/28/1989
Cigarette smoking is prohibited on domestic air flights.

12/29/1940
Germany begins dropping fire bombs on London, England.

12/29/1944
Royal Canadian Air Force Flight Lieutenant Richard Joseph Audet of 411 Squadron shoots down five German planes in one action.

12/30/1941
In Ottawa, Winston Churchill delivers an inspirational speech that helps galvanize wartime resolve.