Following his assignment at Camp Grant , he spent August through December 1921 at the Army Medical School in Washington , DC following which he returned to Camp Custer , Michigan . There he served as the camp sanitary officer until September 1922 . In September , he reported to Johns Hopkins University , where he spent the next nine months studying biostatistics and receiving a Doctorate in Public Health before again returning to Camp Custer , continuing to serve as the camp sanitary inspector until September 1923 , when he moved to Chicago , Illinois to serve as the medical inspector for the VI Corps Area . In 1922 and again in 1923 , he was commended by Brigadier General George Moseley for his efforts at insect control at Camp Custer . Moseley said , in part , that " In a region formerly noted for the number of its flies and mosquitos , he has made a great record in keeping this Camp free from both those pests . " In 1925 he was assigned as the medical inspector of the Philippine Department . While there , he had the additional duty of serving on the Advisory Committee on Malaria Control , which reported to the Governor of the Philippines , now-retired Major General Leonard Wood . Upon his return to the states in September 1927 , Hawley reported to Fort Riley , Kansas where he was assigned as the Surgeon for the United States Army Cavalry School . He was well thought of there , and his commanding officer stated of Hawley that he was " An officer of superior attainments , with splendid energy and keenly interested in his profess ion . His work as Attending Surgeon has been marked by the most scrupulous attention to the needs of his patients and is worthy of the highest commendation . " From August 1929 until July 1931 , Hawley was assigned to the Nicaragua Canal Survey . The United States Interocean Canal Board had approved a two year long project to survey routes for a canal through Nicaragua to join the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans — to be larger than the Panama Canal . A group of 320 engineers and support personnel organized into a provisional engineer battalion — Hawley among them — surveyed multiple routes through the country . In the end the survey 's final report found no route truly suitable for a canal at that time . After having fought against malarial bearing mosquitos and a virtual endemic of syphilis in the local population , Hawley was put to work during the March 1931 Nicaragua earthquake , where he and his medical detachment set up a treatment area and provided care for all who presented themselves , performing 10 major and 20 minor surgical procedures . Hawley himself treated the injured from the earthquake for 48 straight hours . For his service , he was one of four officers of the battalion awarded the Presidential Medal of Merit of Nicaragua . Among the other three officers receiving the award were the battalion commander , Lieutenant Colonel Daniel I. Sultan , the battalion executive officer , Major Charles P. Gross , and the A Company Commander , First Lieutenant Leslie R. Groves . All would later raise to positions of prominence in the Second World War . Members of the battalion were also awarded the Second Nicaraguan Campaign Medal for their service there . It was during his tour in Nicaragua that Hawley developed a number of relationships with other officers on the Survey which would serve him well during World War II , when many of them assumed key positions within the European Theater of Operations or the War Department during the war
1931 Nicaragua earthquake
1931 Nicaragua earthquake
Paul Ramsey Hawley