I am looking for an old high school friend. I have the following
information on him: age, full name, military branch and date of
service, approximate location,high school and dates,occupation ,
mothers name and sister's first name. The newspaper in the his town
refuses to run an ad looking for him. Question: How do I find my old
buddy?

Lucyfur,

I write a free newsletter and recently sent out an issue that talked
about how to find information on people online. (Actually the focus
was on where people can get information about you.) I thought some of
the resources might be useful to you. I will past a portion of the
newsletter below. Good luck!  DecipherIT

August 13, 2002 – Online Privacy – What I Can Learn About You Online

...

1. Google [ ://www.google.com] - This will point you to web sites
that mention you. If you have a popular name you might want to narrow
down the scope by including Minnesota or another descriptor in the
search.

2. Google Groups [ http://groups.google.com] - This will point you to
messages sent by you or about you in public newsgroups and discussion
lists. (The results may overlap but will be different from the search
above.)

3. Phone books online - Qwestdex [ http://www.qwestdex.com/ ] is a
popular local choice. Some offer features that are not
privacy-friendly – such as reverse lookup (InfoSpace [
http://kevdb.infospace.com/info/wp/reverse.htm ]and others) or near
address services that will profile a neighborhood (InfoSpace).

4. Local newspaper – StarTribune [ http://www.startribune.com/ ]. It’s
quick and easy to search the archives online. Actually, a variety of
publications are indexed and accessible through the public library
now.

5. Yahoo People [ http://people.yahoo.com/ ]. This is the least
privacy-friendly because users are a click away from paying for
reports on people.
...

Google Answers does not release private information about individuals,
so it is best that you not give us this person's name and personal
details. I do have a suggestion that might be of assistance in your
search. If you know the date of your friend's graduation from high
school, you might try calling the school to see whether any high
school reunions for his graduating year are planned, or whether
records from previous reunions might include information about your
friend. School reunions often publish a pamphlet with contact
information for alumni.

don't you guys have a site similar to friends reunited
(http://www.friendsreunited.co.uk/) in the US? It's a site that has
all UK schools on it and is the place to try and contact old lost
buddies...
gook luck
fj

www.classmates.com  indexes members by high school, university and/or
college, or military affiliation.  You must be a member to email other
members.  If your friend is not mentioned, you may be able to find
someone that was in the same year as him/her.  Always keep in mind
that some people go to great lengths to not be easily found.