fid = fopen('YourFile.bin', 'r'); %for read
data_by_one = fread(fid, '*uint8'); %read it a byte at a time
frewind(fid); %go back to the beginning
data_by_two = fread(fid, '*uint16'); %read two bytes at a time
frewind(fid); %go back to the beginning
data_by_two_swapped = fread(fid, '*uint16', 'ieee-be'); %two bytes at a time, big-ended
fclose(fid);
The default for two-byte integers is "little-ended", where the file has PQ where in memory the value would be (256 * Q + P). Reading 'big-ended' would read bytes PQ as representing (256 * P + Q), the way that God intended ;-)
