Update on this,

I've got the help to the front by making it a JDialog and setting
toFront and the location.  But I cannot set it to be the currently
selected window.  Any ideas?

[code]

package helpMenu;

import javax.swing.JDialog;
import javax.swing.JEditorPane;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JMenu;
import javax.swing.JMenuBar;
import javax.swing.event.MenuEvent;
import javax.swing.event.MenuListener;

public class MyWindow extends JFrame
{
    private JDialog helpDialog;
    private JEditorPane helpContent;

   public MyWindow()
   {
       // JFrame settings.
       setTitle("Help Menu Demo");
       setSize(800,600);
       setLocationRelativeTo(null);
       setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

       // Menu bar / menus.
       JMenuBar menuBar= new JMenuBar();
       JMenu help= new JMenu("Help");
       help.addMenuListener(new MListener("Help"));
       menuBar.add(help);

       setJMenuBar(menuBar);

       // The help dialog.
       setupHelpDialog();

       setVisible(true);
   }

   private void setupHelpDialog()
   {
       helpDialog= new JDialog(this, "MyWindow Help", false);
       helpDialog.setSize(250,700);

    helpDialog.setLocation(this.getSize().width,this.getSize().height-350);
       helpContent= new JEditorPane();
       helpDialog.add(helpContent);
       helpDialog.setVisible(false);
   }

   // Inner class to handle JMenu actions.
   private class MListener implements MenuListener
   {
       String name;

       public MListener(String nm)
       {
           name= nm;
       }

       // Invoked when the menu is selected.
       public void menuSelected(MenuEvent me)
       {
          if (name.equals("Help"))
          {
             helpDialog.toFront();
             helpDialog.setVisible(true);
          }
       }

       // Invoked when the menu is cancelled.
       public void menuCanceled(MenuEvent me)
       {
          helpDialog.setVisible(false);
       }

       // Invoked when the menu is deselected.
       public void menuDeselected(MenuEvent me)
       {

       }
   }

    public static void main(String[] args)
   {
        new MyWindow();

    }

}

[/code]