A reader of CWB asked, “Wasn’t there a wartime policy for older men?

Answer: In a nutshell, the army discharge manifestation was the reversal of the disapproval of the wartime policy application for older men. He submitted that application and it was disapproved initially. (see Appendix 1)

Neville didn’t say he went around military law.  In 1942-1943 there were wartime policies for older men which is correct.

Neville’s story and the historical record actually align perfectly with his own account in the lecture below.

In the lecture, Rearrange the Mind, Neville stated he had submitted a “normal natural application, as you have to do in the world of Caesar.”

Neville’s age was one of the reasons for his discharge from the army. But his application was initially “disapproved” by his commanding officer.

He quoted his Captain, who had said Neville was “almost thirty-eight” (Neville was born in 1905 so he would be 38 in 1943, at the beginning of the year this policy was put into effect).

The “manifestation” part of Neville’s story, was not about if the policy existed, but about getting past his commanding officers’ disapproval. The age discharge policy didn’t just automatically happen. It needed approval. (see Appendix 1).

Neville’s request was rejected, and was stamped “disapproved,” by Colonel Theodore Bilbo Jr.

After Neville said he performed an imaginal act (he said he slept) in his apartment in New York City, Colonel Bilbo called Neville back in nine days later, and reversed the decision, approving Neville’s honorable discharge.

Supporting Materials:

For anyone looking for Neville Goddard’s military records:

Enlistee Information:

Name: Neville L. Goddard
Army Serial Number: 32626732
Place of Enlistment: New York City, New York
Date of Enlistment: November 12, 1942
Residence: New York, New York County, New York State
Nativity: Bahamas or other British West Indies (e.g., Barbados, Bermuda, Jamaica, etc.)
Year of Birth: 1905
Race and Citizenship: White, not yet a U.S. citizen
Education Level: 3 years of high school
Marital Status: Separated, without dependents
Civilian Occupation: Authors, editors, and reporters
Military Details:

Grade Upon Enlistment: Private (PVT)
Branch: Branch Immaterial – Warrant Officers, USA
Term of Enlistment: Enlisted for the duration of the war or other emergency, plus six months, subject to the discretion of the President or as per law.
Component of the Army: Selectees (Enlisted Men)
Source of Army Personnel: Civilian life

Reference lecture: Neville Goddard Lectures: “Rearrange the Mind”

Well, I was drafted into the army with 17 million of us. Well, I didn’t ask the permission of anyone. I only consulted myself. I looked around, I knew what the world knew. It was something that had to be done. But I must be honest with myself, I didn’t want any part of it. But no part of it. Others would tell me, is that the act of a coward? I didn’t care what they said. Is that being a good citizen? I didn’t care what they said. As I just said earlier, what we now know, which is called reason—it’s a reasonable thing to do, we are at war, and we’re all Americans. And we should be going there because our country has declared war. Go in there and fight. And so, reason tells us that should be done. I was drafted. I did not oppose it. They drafted me. Took me down to Camp Polk, Louisiana, for my basic training. And while I was there, I didn’t want any part of it. And I dare to assume that I am out of it and made my normal natural application, as you have to do in the world of Caesar. Within twenty-four hours, it came back and it was simply rejected. It was signed disapproved and signed by my colonel. A very nice gentleman. His name was Colonel Theodore Bilbo, Jr. His father was the senator from Mississippi. I said nothing. My captain said, “For your sake, Goddard, I am very, very sorry. I know exactly how you feel. You want to be with your wife and your little girl. Your son is in Guadalcanal with the Marines and you are now almost thirty-eight. And so, I know, but I would like to go through this war with a man just like you at the side. So, I can’t say that I am sorry for myself. I’m sorry only for you.” I didn’t say one word to him, to the colonel. I didn’t oppose it. That was the decision of Caesar. Now, I looked into the perfect law, the Law of Liberty, and I persevered in that law. And I slept that night as though I slept in my own home in New York City on Washington Square, where I lived on the 7th floor. I lived on that floor and it was a very large apartment, with two bedrooms, a lovely, big living room, a dining room, a huge kitchen, and a foyer.

And I slept in that place just as though I were there, not in the army. I fell asleep in that state, having done all the normal things that would make me feel this arrangement is perfect. I rearranged the structure of my mind. Instead of seeing twenty-five men around me, sleeping upstairs and knowing that twenty- five were down below in the next area, I slept in my own bed with my wife in her bed and my little girl in her crib in the corner. I felt everything in that place just as though it’s taking place. And I rearranged the structure of my mind and fell sound asleep in that state. At four o’clock in the morning, here comes a sheet of paper before my eye and a hand from here down with a pen in its hand and the pen scratched out the word “disapproved” and it wrote in, in a bold script “approved.” And then I heard the word: that which I have done. I have done. Do nothing. And then I woke. It was too early to disturb the twenty-five other fellows sleeping there. But I waited until the very first moment that I could leave that room and went down to the latrine and shaved and bathed early and came up, filled with the glow that the whole thing was done. I walked in that assumption for the next nine days. Nine days later, the same colonel that disapproved of my request called me in.

He said, “Close the door, Goddard.” So, I closed the door. He said, “Take a seat.” He never asked me to take a seat in his presence before. I was a private. You always stood in his presence. He said, “Take a seat.” And then he gave me all the reasons in the world why I should still be in the army. He said, “Do you still want to get out?” I said, “Yes, sir.” He gave me another reason. “Do you still want to get out?” I said, “Yes, sir.” Another one. When he exhausted all the reasons why I should be in the army—and I’m still saying, “yes, sir”—he said, “all right, bring me another application and have your captain sign it,” which I did that day. I was honorably discharged and out of the army. I didn’t run away. I was honorably discharged.*

When vision breaks forth into speech, the presence of Deity is there and who can oppose God? “To that which I have done, I have done.” Do nothing. So, he thought he initiated the urge to let me go free. I looked into the perfect law, the Law of Liberty, and I persevered in that law and he played his part, for I rearranged the structure of my mind.

I was convinced I wanted out and I didn’t ask anyone’s permission. I did not discuss it with anyone as to why I should want out when 17 million men are being drafted plus numberless girls to make a tremendous effort against this monstrous thing that was in Europe. I still wanted out. I did not take anyone into my confidence as to why I wanted out. I had my thirteen-week basic training. And then when I came out, they gave me my citizenship papers and became, I could have been back in 1922, I could have been an American, but I just didn’t have the time or the urge to get around it, to become a citizen. So, I drifted on and drifted on and drifted on. And finally, after this little episode, that’s why I went into the army. I would still be drifting through and being a citizen of Britain. But now I am an American by adoption and they gave it to me because I did fulfill a thirteen-week training course in the American army. So, I tell you, I know from experience how true this statement in James is, read it carefully: “Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourself.”

For he, who is a hearer of the word is not a doer, he is like one who looks into the mirror and sees his natural face. And then he goes away and at once forgets what he looks like. But he who is a doer, he looks into the perfect law, the Law of Liberty and perseverance, and when he does that, he is blessed in his doing. That is acting, making the thing become alive within you. Now he tells us in the same chapter, “Faith without works is dead. As the body, apart from the spirit is dead.” So, faith without works is dead. He is not proposing that I substitute works for faith. Works are the evidence of whether the faith I profess is alive or dead. I say I believe the story of Scripture. Well then, if I believe it, then do it. He said, “Whatever you desire, believe you have received and you shall.” Well, if I really believe that I can’t say I believe by quoting the Apostles’ Creed, that’s not belief. Going to church and genuflecting before some manmade little cross, that’s not Scripture. Do you really believe the doctrines, the teachings of Scripture, not the traditions of men, not the rituals, not the outer ceremonies, but the teachings of Scripture? “When you pray, believe that you have received and you will.”

And “all things are possible to him who believes”—but do I believe that? Well, then believe it, if I really believe I am out of the army, what and where would I be? Well, I will be at home in my place a thousand miles away on Washington Square. If I look through the window, I will see the Holly Apartments. If I look to the left, I will see Washington Square. If I looked to the right, I will see Sixth Avenue. It’s now called the Avenue of the Americas. But then, and still is to me raised as I was there, it’s still Sixth Avenue to me. And there I will look at Sixth Avenue. Well, I did that that night. I saw Sixth Avenue. I saw Washington Square. And then I went through the entire apartment and touched these objects with my imaginary hands. Now, was that rational? The world will say that was the most irrational thing that one can do. Now, what is reason? The office of reason is simply, well, to extract conclusions from premises. Must my premises always be based upon the evidence of my senses? Must they always dictate what is rational to me? Well, having done this and proved it to be a fact, reason doesn’t mean to me, what it means to the world. For they would sleep in the army. And I wrote a friend of mine who was a Freudian and he practiced psychiatry in New York City. He was drafted. He was an Englishman, too. And he was drafted and he was off in Florida, a man my age. And so, when I got out, knowing exactly what I did, I wrote him a detailed letter telling him what I did and how to do it. No, he was a Freudian. And that was something that didn’t make sense to him. To him, the whole thing was centered in sex, not on this use of the imagination. I said, all right. He didn’t answer my letter. I got out in 1943 in the spring, in the month of April, or was it March? March or April of 1943. They drafted me November the 19th, 1942. And I got out in March 1943. When the war was over and all the other fellows were being discharged, he was discharged. And he said to me afterwards, “You know, Neville, I love to come to your lectures and to hear you because it’s interesting, it’s fairy. You turn my daily bread into the substance of fairy. But while I listen to you, you know, what I do, I put my feet right down on the carpet, and I hold onto the sides of the chair to keep my sense of the reality and the profundity of things.”

Well, he kept on holding his little cot in the army for another three years, because he couldn’t let go and put himself where he wanted to be. So, I am telling you how it’s done.

1. U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) – Decision B-33419 (April 14, 1943)

Link: https://www.gao.gov/products/b-33419

This is a direct, primary source legal document from the U.S. government in 1943. The Comptroller General is ruling on the travel pay for discharged soldiers and explicitly cites the policy in the text: “If a person secures a discharge from the army because he is 38 years of age or over, as outlined in War Department Circular No. 397, dated December 7, 1942…” This proves that the exact mechanism for older soldiers to request a discharge was a well-documented War Department reality at the exact time Neville was serving.

2. Executive Order 9279 (December 5, 1942)

Link: https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/executive-order-9279 (via The American Presidency Project)

Signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, this is the overarching executive order that stopped the drafting of men aged 38 and older into the armed forces (shifting the draft age limit down to 37). This executive order is what prompted the Army to issue War Department Circular No. 397 two days later on December 7, 1942, which officially allowed men 38+ already in the Army to apply for a discharge.

See also:

Neville Goddard: Marriages, Children and Family Tree: Research Notes

A Birthmark in the Records: New Traces of Neville Goddard