Waldemar Levy Cardoso

This name uses Portuguese naming customs. The first or maternal family name is Levy and the second or paternal family name is Cardoso.

Waldemar Levy Cardoso
Born	(1900-12-04)December 4, 1900 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Died	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Allegiance	Brazil
Service/branch	Brazilian Expeditionary Force
Years of service	1918-1966
Rank	Marshal
Unit	Artillery Battalion
Battles/wars	Tenente revolts Brazilian Revolution of 1930 World War II Italian Campaign

Waldemar Levy Cardoso (December 4, 1900 – May 13, 2009) was the last living Marshal of the Brazilian Army.

Biography

He was of Jewish Algerian-Moroccan descent and was born on Rua Evaristo da Veiga in Rio de Janeiro. Cardoso graduated from military college at the top of his class in late 1918, making him a World War I-era veteran although he never saw combat action. In 1924 he took part in the uprising against the Brazilian Federal Government and also fought in the Brazilian Revolution of 1930. He was mentioned in dispatches in World War II. As a lieutenant colonel during the World War II, he served alongside the allied forces in Italy as the commander of an Artillery battalion of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force. He converted to Catholicism in 1953. Between 1953 and 1954, he was the commander of the 2nd Artillery Regiment, in Itu, São Paulo.

He was promoted to Marshal upon his retirement in 1966. After his retirement he acted as president of Petrobrás between March and October 1969, acting as company's counselor between 1971 and 1985. He lived on Rua Tonelero in the Copacabana district of Rio de Janeiro.

In 2007, at the age of 107 years, he returned to Itu to see the party of the 90th birthday of the 2nd Light Artillery Group, the actual designation of the old Regiment he had commanded. He died in the Hospital Central do Exército on May 13, 2009. Upon his death he was the last Brazilian Field Marshal, the last surviving veteran of the Brazilian Revolution of 1930, the oldest WWII and last surviving WWI veteran from Brazil.

During his career, Field Marshal Cardoso was awarded with several decorations such as: Brazilian Combat Cross Second Class, Brazilian Expeditionary Force Campaign Cross, Order of Military Merit, Military Medal in Gold with Platinum bar (for 40 years of active duty), Brazilian War Medal, US Army Bronze Star, Croce Al Valore Militare (Italy) and the Croix de Guerre avec Palme (France) among others.

See also

• List of centenarians
• List of last surviving World War I veterans by country