Elza Cansanção Medeiros or Major Elza (October 21, 1921- December 8, 2009) was a Brazilian Army officer and World War II veteran. She was the highest-ranking female officer in the Brazilian Army with the rank of Major. She went to Italy during the war along with the Brazilian Expeditionary Force as a nurse. She used to lecture about the Brazilian participation in World War II. Elza Cansanção Medeiros died on December 8, 2009, in Rio de Janeiro.[1]