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CNN Live Saturday

U.S. Soldiers Overseas Receive Holiday Greetings Via Internet

Aired December 08, 2001 - 16:25   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: During World War II, a letter from loved ones in America took weeks to reach servicemen overseas. Well now, e-mail has reduced that delay to just seconds.

And Matt Olson from our affiliate KUSI in San Diego has more on how you can send a free video message to military personnel abroad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Enjoy the holidays. We're thinking about you...

MATT OLSON, KUSI CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): That video message is bound for a brother-in-law in the U.S. military, an e-mail of support, courtesy of a loved one and Give Thanks America, an initiative conceived by the computer folks at Compaq.

DAVE FUSCO, COMPAQ: Everybody in America certainly was affected by the events of 9/11. And Compaq lost five employees that day. So we just wanted to do something.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What you'll be doing is looking at the camera, and it's -- the microphone is pretty sensitive.

OLSON: Literally anyone can send a video greeting. The generalized message to all service men and women, or a personalized, private thought to an individual.

FUSCO: Well, we had a young man that came in with a violin. He'd been taking violin lessons, hadn't seen his dad in three months, wanted to show his dad the progress he's made with the violin lessons. And he actually played a song and recorded that.

OLSON: E-mail cares little about physical distance. Military personnel in Afghanistan, firefighters in New York, they'll access the messages from a Web site. Kara Vichko's brother will see hers in Korea.

KARA VICHKO: I think he's going to be blow away. He's not a very computer literate. So for him to actually see me talking, I think it's going to kind of probably make him really happy and let him know that, you know, we're thinking of him.

OLSON (on camera): If you consider the ability to do this, to send a personal message thousands of miles instantaneously, well it certainly wasn't available way back in the war, way back in the Persian Gulf War.

FUSCO: But now you're able to, you know, record a message, do some quick editing, send it off all in a matter of a couple of minutes. So it's just tremendous what we can do.

OLSON: The words may be emotional. There's Kleenex near these computer terminals for a reason. They may be encouraging, like this message from Congressman Bob Filnor.

REP BOB FILNOR (D), CALIFORNIA: And all of San Diego is thinking about you every day. We know you're going to be victorious. We pray for your safe return.

OLSON: Thanks and support communicated about as efficiently as we can do it. From those of us at home, to those serving in harm's way.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's so much you can do with writing letters. And they can have that, but to actually see a live person, it's a great opportunity for the troops, to let them know we care.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CALLAWAY: And that was Matt Olson reporting from our affiliate KUSI. I'm Catherine Callaway.

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