Armstrong – Table of Contents

Armstrong to the Surgeon-General brought a telegraphic invitation to report for
examination at Ellis Island, New York in four days. Dr. Armstrong went to the
Superintendent of the New Haven General Hospital and explained the reasons for his
desire to take the examination for the Public Health Service. Immediate acceptance into
the Service if he passed the examination, he also explained, would mean that he could not
fulfill his internship obligation for the remainder of the year. The Superintendent
generously told Dr. Armstrong that if this was what he wanted and needed to do, the
Hospital would not hold him to the completion of his full two years of internship. Dr.
Armstrong borrowed enough money to get himself to New York to take the examination
that he passed successfully. Another intern from New Haven took the same examination
and failed.
In his personal papers (1), he described details that he remembered of the
examination process. It was a very rigid examination lasting 5 days. There were four days
of written examination and one day of oral quizzing including possibly a physical
evaluation of the applicant. The examiners questioned Dr. Armstrong sharply about his
feet since they thought he might have exhibited a tendency to flat footedness. They
finally decided that his feet were fine, and he passed the physical requirements for a
commission. The examining board for the fifth day oral examination consisted of 5
Public Health Service officers dressed in full uniform. They asked him questions for
several hours, then assigned him a hospital patient to examine and diagnose. One of the
examining physicians, a Dr. Cobb, asked Armstrong, “Well, what’s he got”? Armstrong’s
patient had obscure signs and symptoms that he could not explain. Armstrong’s response
was, “Damned if I know”. Dr. Cobb replied, “Oh, don’t feel bad about it. We don’t know