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

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

officer and

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

veteran A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in an job, occupation or Craft, field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in the military, armed forces. A topic o ...

. She was the highest-ranking female officer in the Brazilian Army with the rank of

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

, having deployed to

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

during the war along with the

Brazilian Expeditionary Force The Brazilian Expeditionary Force (, FEB), nicknamed (literally "the Smoking Snakes"), was a military division of the Brazilian Army and Air Force that fought as part of Allied forces in the Mediterranean Theatre of World War II. It numbere ...

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, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

on October 21, 1921, the daughter of sanitary doctor Tadeu de Araújo Medeiros—a friend of

Alberto Santos Dumont Alberto Santos-Dumont (self-stylised as Alberto Santos=Dumont; 20 July 1873 – 23 July 1932) was a Brazilian aeronaut, sportsman, inventor, and one of the few people to have contributed significantly to the early development of both lighter-t ...

and direct assistant of

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

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, Brazil, Northeast Region. It borders: Pernambuco (N and NW); Sergipe (S); Bahia (SW); and the Atlantic Ocean (E). Its capital is ...

, 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 organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

. 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 Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 152,916 residents as of 2025. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn ...

. With the end of the conflict, she was dismissed shortly after returning to the country, and became an employee for

Banco do Brasil Banco do Brasil S.A. (, ) is a Brazilian financial services company headquartered in Brasília, Brazil. The oldest bank in Brazil, and among the oldest banks in continuous operation in the world, it was founded by John VI, King of Portugal, on ...

. 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 The Serviço Nacional de Informações () or SNI was the intelligence agency of Brazil during its military dictatorship. It was created by President Castelo Branco via Law 4371/64 and remained active until dissolved by Fernando Collor in 1990. ...

(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 of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...

, history of the Americas,

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

parapsychology Parapsychology is the study of alleged psychic phenomena (extrasensory perception, telepathy, teleportation, precognition, clairvoyance, psychokinesis (also called telekinesis), and psychometry (paranormal), psychometry) and other paranormal cla ...

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

and

human relations In social psychology, an interpersonal relation (or interpersonal relationship) describes a social association, connection, or affiliation between two or more people. It overlaps significantly with the concept of social relations, which ar ...

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

Antarctic The Antarctic (, ; commonly ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the South Pole, lying within the Antarctic Circle. It is antipodes, diametrically opposite of the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antar ...

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 Aircraft flight control system, conventional three-a ...

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

and

Recife Recife ( , ) is the Federative units of Brazil, state capital of Pernambuco, Brazil, on the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of South America. It is the largest urban area within both the North Region, Brazil, North and the Northeast R ...

, 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 (, ) are the unified Military, military forces of the Brazil, Federative Republic of Brazil. Consisting of three Military branch, service branches, it comprises the Brazilian Army (including the Brazilian Army Aviati ...

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