Dad Reveals He Spoke with Sailor Son Hours Before He Disappeared from USS George Washington

NEED TO KNOW

• The father of the Navy sailor who went missing on July 28 during a training exercise is speaking out for the first time

• Jose Rivera III, the father of Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Launch/Recovery Equipment) Airman Jose Antonio Rivera Lynch IV, said that he had spoken to his son 12 hours before he fell overboard

• "It was a great conversation. We always ended up saying, 'we're so proud of you, you have been like none of the Riveras have ever been, look at you,' " Rivera recounted

The father of the Navy sailor who went missing during a training exercise on July 28, while onboard the USS George Washington in the ocean north of Australia, is speaking out for the first time.

On Wednesday, July 30, USS George Washington spokesperson Lieutenant Commander Mark Langford told PEOPLE that the search for the missing sailor — identified as Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Launch/Recovery Equipment) Airman Jose Antonio Rivera Lynch IV, per a release — had been suspended.

The sailor's father, Jose Rivera III, spoke to local Virginia news outlet WVEC-TV on Friday, Aug. 1, about his son's passion for his role in the U.S. Navy — and shared that he had spoken with his son just 12 hours before he went missing.

"It was a great conversation. We always ended up saying, 'we're so proud of you, you have been like none of the Riveras have ever been, look at you,' " Rivera said of the sailor.

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According to the Navy sailor's father, Rivera Lynch is being remembered as a "likeable, very humble" man who had just enlisted in the Navy in June 2024 and first reported to USS George Washington in January.

"He was a person that, whenever you met him for the first time, you met somebody that was so likeable, very humble, very helpful," his father told the outlet. "No matter where I went with him, people just loved being around him."

The Navy first announced that they had responded to reports of “a possible sailor overboard” in the Timor Sea, in a Monday, July 28 press release.

The aircraft carrier is currently operating in the Timor Sea as part of the multinational Talisman Sabre 25 exercise organized by Australia and the U.S., per USNI News.

The release confirmed that the search for the missing sailor involved a number of Navy helicopters and vessels, as well as assistance from Australian Defence Force crews. The George Washington was carrying out its first patrol since returning to Japan in November 2024 when Rivera Lynch went missing.

"After more than 45 hours of continuous search and rescue efforts covering roughly 2,200 square miles, the U.S. Navy and Australian Defence and Australian Border Forces suspended search efforts in the Timor Sea on July 30," the release stated.

Rivera Lynch's father told WVCE-TV that he's grateful for the military's efforts in trying finding his son.

"I'll forever be grateful that they did their due diligence in searching for him. They will cover every wave and every rock, and they couldn't recover him, but the effort was there, and I commend them for that," Rivera said.

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Rivera Lynch's father confirmed to the outlet that a memorial service is scheduled for Saturday in his Florida hometown. He is asking that the local community respect Navy procedures amid the service and remember his son as a caring, passionate man.

"They say when you lose a parent, you're an orphan," Rivera said, holding up a picture of his son. "When you lose a spouse, you're a widow. But when you lose a son, there are no words for that... It's going to be step-by-step, but now he lives in me, and I will carry on his legacy until my final days."

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