Elza Cansanção Medeiros, popularly known as Major Elza (October 21, 1921 – December 8, 2009), was a Brazilian

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

officer and

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

veteran A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military. A military veteran that h ...

. She was the highest-ranking female officer in the Brazilian Army with the rank of Major, having deployed to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

during the war along with the

Brazilian Expeditionary Force The Brazilian Expeditionary Force ( pt, Força Expedicionária Brasileira, FEB), nicknamed Cobras Fumantes (literally "the Smoking Snakes"), was a military division of the Brazilian Army and Air Force that fought with Allied forces in the Me ...

as a nurse. Medeiros used to lecture about the Brazilian participation in World War II.

Biography

Medeiros was born in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of the same name, Brazil's List of Brazilian states by population, third-most populous state, and the List of largest citi ...

on October 21, 1921, the daughter of sanitary doctor Tadeu de Araújo Medeiros—a friend of Alberto Santos Dumont and direct assistant of

Oswaldo Cruz Oswaldo Gonçalves Cruz, better known as Oswaldo Cruz (; August 5, 1872 – February 11, 1917), was a Brazilian physician, pioneer bacteriologist, epidemiologist and public health officer and the founder of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute. He occu ...

in the campaign against yellow fever. At the age of nineteen, she was the first Brazilian to volunteer in the Army Health Directorate to serve in World War II. Although she dreamed of fighting on the front line, she had to settle for being one of the seventy-three nurses in the Precursor Health Detachment of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force, since the Brazilian Army at the time did not accept female combatants. With her parents, from

Alagoas Alagoas (, ) is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil and is situated in the eastern part of the Northeast Region. It borders: Pernambuco (N and NW); Sergipe (S); Bahia (SW); and the Atlantic Ocean (E). Its capital is the city of Maceió. ...

, she learned to shoot, still in her teens. With the German housekeepers who served their family in the 1930s Copacabana, she learned Music and languages. By appointment of Arnon de Mello, father of President

Fernando Collor de Mello Fernando Affonso Collor de Mello (; born 12 August 1949) is a Brazilian politician who served as the 32nd president of Brazil from 1990 to 1992, when he resigned in a failed attempt to stop his impeachment trial by the Brazilian Senate. Collor ...

, she joined the Brazilian Press Association. It premiered, with Fernando Torres, Nathalia Timberg and Sérgio Brito at the University Theater, with the play ''Dama da Madrugada''. She graduated from the School of Nursing at the

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

. She graduated in Journalism from the National Faculty of Philosophy. Her service in World War II began in Alagoas, providing relief to the shipwrecked Itapagé, torpedoed on the Brazilian coast by the German submarine U-161 commanded by Captain Albrecht Achilles. During the conflict, she worked in evacuation hospitals in Italy, far from the front, in twelve-hour shifts, no soldier having died in her arms. She served as Liaison Officer and Chief Nurse at the 7th Station Hospital in Livorno. With the end of the conflict, she was dismissed shortly after returning to the country, and became an employee for Banco do Brasil. In 1957, the women were reconvened and could join the military; Medeiros promptly returned to her nurse duties. Despite working for the National Intelligence Service of Brazil (SNI), she never considered abandoning her military career. She graduated in

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (pro ...

, history of the Americas,

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

parapsychology Parapsychology is the study of alleged psychic phenomena (extrasensory perception, telepathy, precognition, clairvoyance, psychokinesis (also called telekinesis), and psychometry) and other paranormal claims, for example, those related to near- ...

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism ...

and human relations. With knowledge of mechanics, sculpture, painting and tapestry, Medeiros traveled the world twice, having been to the

Antarctic The Antarctic ( or , American English also or ; commonly ) is a polar region around Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica, the Kerguelen Plateau and o ...

continent. She learned to fly

ultralight aircraft Ultralight aviation (called microlight aviation in some countries) is the flying of lightweight, 1- or 2-seat fixed-wing aircraft. Some countries differentiate between weight-shift control and conventional three-axis control aircraft with aile ...

at the age of sixty. "Major Elza" founded and directed two magazines and signed several columns in newspapers from

and

Recife That it may shine on all ( Matthew 5:15) , image_map = Brazil Pernambuco Recife location map.svg , mapsize = 250px , map_caption = Location in the state of Pernambuco , pushpin_map = Brazil#South A ...

, having written three books on her participation in World War II. She also presented numerous papers at military medicine congresses, with special emphasis on suggestions for the creation of a Women's Auxiliary Corps for the Armed Forces, the basis for opening the

Brazilian Armed Forces The Brazilian Armed Forces ( pt, Forças Armadas Brasileiras, ) are the unified military forces of the Federative Republic of Brazil. Consisting of three service branches, it comprises the Brazilian Army (including the Brazilian Army Avia ...

to women's participation. A member of the Alagoas Academy of Culture, she also worked towards the preservation of FEB's photographic memory. Elza Cansanção Medeiros died on December 8, 2009, in her hometown of

References

Major Elza's biography at ANVFEB

External links

National Association of Veterans of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force - ANVFEB
Official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Medeiros, Elza Women in World War II Female wartime nurses 1921 births Brazilian military personnel of World War II 2009 deaths World War II nurses Brazilian nurses Brazilian military nurses

Biography

See also

References

External links