          THIS ARTICLE APPEARED IN THE INTERNATIONAL
          HERALD TRIBUNE ON APRIL 2, 1993 UNDER THE
          TITLE "HERE'S TO ALL MY PEN PALS,
          COMPUTERIZED AND HUMAN"
          
               Oslo. There is a new and growing community
          in the world which knows no borders.  The
          members of this group dedicate time most days to
          helping each other.  For this, they get no pay, only
          an occasional thanks.  Few of them have ever met.
               The members of this mutual help society will
          know I am talking about them.  Most others will
          not even know it exists.  Yet it is no secret.  It has
          just developed so quickly and quietly that most
          people have never heard of it.
               I am talking about those of us who use our
          computers to communicate with each other.  This
          is made possible by a modem, a clever device
          which permits computers to send data over
          telephone lines.
               There are a number of services available.  I
          happen to favor Compuserve, which has its
          headquarters in Ohio but operates on a global
          basis.  I also make extensive use of Internet, a
          world-wide academic and research network.  Using
          these, I can exchange private messages with
          millions of other users, as well as participate in
          conferences.
               Compuserve's 360 page almanac lists well
          over a hundred forums, where you can find almost
          any subject your heart desires.  There you will find
          kindred souls, who will be happy to exchange views
          or give advice.  (A recent addition is a forum run
          by the Clinton White House, which offers official
          texts as well as a place to blow off steam.)
          You can also use Compuserve and Internet to get
          information which
          is otherwise not readily available.  (One of the
          misplaced fears of electronic data bases concerns
          information overload.  This is like refusing to use
          a library because it has so many books.  Obviously,
          one must find a suitable data base and then know
          what you are looking for.)
               I can perhaps best illustrate all this by
          showing you how I have used these services in
          connection with a book I have recently published
          about my experiences during World War II, Letters
          Home: a war memoir.
               In doing research for the book, I needed
          bibliographies about the battles in which I was
          involved.  Using an electronic address provided on
          an Internet conference on World War II, I was able
          to contact a computer at the US Army War College,
          at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.  When I wanted,
          for example, a bibliography about our landing in
          Normandy, I sent a request to the War College
          computer.  Minutes later, with no human
          intervention, the computer sent me a bibliography
          about Operation Overlord.  (As a side benefit, the
          Army War College subsequently sent me by mail a
          four volume study of Operation Overlord which it
          was using in a study course.)
               After printing the bibliography, I noted which
          books seemed most interesting.  I then logged on to
          (connected to) the data base for libraries here in
          Norway.  Presto.  In a few minutes I had a list of
          the books which interested me which are in
          Norwegian libraries.
               Over the months, I borrowed six volumes
          from the history of the US Army in World War II
          and several books from a twenty-four volume series
          containing interviews with the German generals
          who commanded the units we fought.  In addition
          to a number of biographies of allied generals, I
          found a book with transcripts of some of Hitler's
          meetings with his generals, as well as one with
          Eisenhower's letters to Marshall.
               On a conference on Internet, I ran into the
          electronic mail address of Ted Hull, who works at
          the National Archives in Washington, DC.  A
          message to him put me in touch with the people
          handling World War II documents.  During a visit
          to Washington, I spent time reading and copying
          documents related to my unit, the 4th Infantry
          Division.
               When going over the letters I wrote to my
          parents, I kept running into the names Joe Gude
          and Ralph Thomas, with whom I shared many
          experiences.  Wondering what had happened to
          them after the war, I logged on to Compuserve's
          telephone data base, which has about ninety
          million telephone numbers.  Within a few minutes
          I was talking with Joe Gude and then Ralph
          Thomas.
               The book was produced with my computer,
          using Ventura Publisher software.  It is a fine
          program, but unfortunately Ventura does not
          provide much support in Norway.  No problem.  I
          joined the Ventura Forum on Compuserve and
          corresponded directly with their experts in the US.
               The people who use the Desktop Publishing
          Forum were also of great help.  I developed a
          lengthy correspondence with Martha LaFleur, of
          Lafayette, Louisiana.  She makes a living with her
          computer but spent quite a bit of time helping me
          solve some intricate problems.
               The advice I sought was not just related to
          using my computer.  Users of the Work Forum had
          a number of suggestions regarding how to go about
          marketing my book.  For example, I learned there
          is an organization in the US, Quality Books Inc.,
          which specializes in selling books to libraries.
               As I was completing the book, a question
          arose in my mind as to whether a few things I was
          saying about other officers might be considered
          libelous.  I joined the Law Forum on Compuserve
          and was soon exchanging messages with a lawyer
          with offices in New York.  He guided me through
          the mysteries of libel and then reviewed my revised
          draft.  For this there was no charge.  Hopefully, if
          he decides someday to visit Norway, he will ask me
          for travel advice.
               As my book progressed, I felt the need to
          know more about the German point of view
          regarding the war.  A German electronic pen pal
          whom I have yet to meet, Dr. Werner Klotzbuecher,
          kindly agreed to read a draft.  He is well informed
          about the war, and we exchanged a number of
          messages about some of my more controversial
          statements.
               I will not say that I would not have been able
          to write the book without the miracle of electronic
          mail, but it would certainly have been much more
          difficult and the product would have been less
          complete.

          Note: I wrote other articles for the IHT about my
          visits to the battlefields.  A couple of them appear
          at the back of LETTERS HOME.

          The next menu item contains a flyer about the book.

          

