Elza Medeiros
Elza Cansanção Medeiros | |
|---|---|
Ancien Combatant du Tatre du Operacion du L’Orope Medal Heroes of Brazil Medal Santos-Dumont Merit Medal Order of the Military Merit | |
| Other work | Author, directress, actress |
Elza Cansanção Medeiros, popularly known as Major Elza (October 21, 1921 – December 8, 2009), was a Brazilian
Biography
Medeiros was born in
With her parents, from
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
She graduated in
"Major Elza" founded and directed two magazines and signed several columns in newspapers from Rio de Janeiro and Recife, 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 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 Rio de Janeiro.[1]
See also
References
- ^ "O DIA ONLINE - RIO - Morre no Rio a primeira voluntária brasileira na 2ª Guerra Mundial". odia.terra.com.br. Archived from the original on 14 December 2009. Retrieved 14 January 2022.