At its headquarters in Saigon, U.S. Defense Command announced that 23 Americans were killed in combat during the week running from December 12 to December 18, the lowest number of casualties in more than five years [97]
David Johnston, a British banker who had been the manager of the Shanghai office of Chartered Bank, was released by China after 28 months in jail.[98] Johnston had been arrested by Chinese authorities in August, 1968, but was never charged with a crime. He was allowed to cross into Hong Kong on Christmas Day after signing a "letter of confession" that said that he had violated the laws of China.
December 26, 1970 (Saturday)
The prototype of China's lightweight supersonic fighter, the Nanchang J-12, made its first flight. The aircraft, designed by Lu Xiaopeng, would be tested for three years but never put into service.
Paul Rose, the leader of the "Chernier Cell" of the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ), was arrested in a farmhouse in Saint-Luc, Quebec for the kidnapping and murder of Quebec Deputy Premier Pierre Laporte during Canada's October Crisis. Rose's brother Jacques Rose and another Chernier member, Francis Simard, were the last remaining suspects in the Laporte murder. Simard would be convicted of murder, and the Rose brothers would be convicted of being accessories after the fact. By 1982, all three had been released from incarceration.
Died: Lilian Board, 22, British athlete, died of cancer.
December 27, 1970 (Sunday)
At the St. James Theatre, Hello, Dolly!, the longest-running Broadway musical up to that time, closed after its 2,844th and final performance in New York.[99] The show had surpassed My Fair Lady on September 9, 1969, and would be surpassed in turn by Fiddler on the Roof on July 21, 1971. Ethel Merman was the final actress to portray Dolly Levi. During its run on Broadway, which began on January 16, 1964, the role of Dolly had been played by Carol Channing, Ginger Rogers, Martha Raye, Betty Grable, Pearl Bailey and Phyllis Diller.