Major General Paul H. Streit, the first military otolaryngologist

Military Medicine, Apr 2002 by Mair, Eric

Selma Augusta Streit was the youngest child in the Streit family. She was very similar in personality to Paul Streit. Like all of the Streit children, she was intellectually gifted and academically ambitious. She followed in the footsteps of her two older brothers and attended the University of Texas at Austin; however, she did not pursue postgraduate work. In college, she studied dietetics, and upon graduating became the dietitian of a women's dormitory in Austin, where she later advanced to an administrative role. Her success in this role propelled her to greater executive opportunities. She went on to become nationally recognized for her abilities in institutional administration. Her crowning glory was appointment as Director of Women's Housing at the University of Washington, Pullman. Posthumously, the new women's dormitory was named in her honor.

Paul Streit attended the University of Texas at Austin the year after his brother. He graduated in 1912 and immediately went on to the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. While there, he excelled in his medical education. He was admitted into the Alpha Mu Pi Omega and Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor societies. In 1916, he graduated near the top of his 35-person class. After graduating from medical school, Paul Streit completed a 1-year internship at the John Sealy Hospital in Galveston. The end of this internship marked the end of Paul Streit's civilian life and the beginning of his military career. Leaving behind his home in Texas meant closing the introductory chapter of his life and starting the next.

With World War I under way, Paul Streit left the security of his home and family. Reflecting back on the lasting impression that had been left by his experience in New Orleans, he realized it was time to relinquish his role as spectator and become an active participant in the military. On October 17, 1917, Paul Streit was sworn in at the rank of first lieutenant in the U.S. Army Medical Department. His first duty station as an officer in the Regular Army was Camp Logan, Colorado, where he served as a regimental surgeon in the 5th Infantry Division. Soon after arriving at Camp Logan, his regiment, the 345th, was deployed to Europe to provide medical support to the Western Front. Soon after his arrival in Germany, Streit was promoted to captain and was made ward surgeon of the station hospital at Coblentz. After the armistice, Streit remained in Europe for an additional year to serve with the Polish Relief Expedition in Warsaw, where he earned the Commemorative Cross of Poland. While in Europe, CPT Streit had the chance to study otolaryngology at the University of Bordeaux under Dr. John Moore. It was during this time that Streit finalized his decision to become a medical specialist. He returned to the United States in early 1921.

His first postwar duty was as surgeon at the Fort Benning Station Hospital. From Fort Benning, CPT Streit went to the Medical Field Service School (August 1922 to December 1922) at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, and then to the Army Medical School (December 1922 to June 1923) in Washington, DC. Upon completing these basic qualification courses, which are required of all medical officers, he was assigned to Jefferson Barracks, Missouri. From there, he went back east to be a surgeon at the General Dispensary of the Military District of Washington, a very busy ambulatory patient clinic. In 1926, the brothers Streit formalized their interests in otolaryngology by attending the New York Post-Graduate Hospital for Specialized Training in Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat (EENT).