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‘Our worst fear…’: Wife of missing US soldier in Lithuania makes urgent plea
Sgt. Edvin Franco was identified as one of the four US soldiers who went missing in Lithuania.
As search operations for the four US soldiers missing in Lithuania continued, a woman identified one of them as her husband Sgt. Edvin Franco. Georgia Franco told Atlanta-based 11 Alive News that the 25-year-old was a tank mechanic in Fort Stewart in Hinesville, Georgia before he joined the army in 2018.
The soldiers went missing on Tuesday during a training session in Lithuania. Their M88 Hercules armored vehicle submerged in a peat bog during an exercise. It was found more than 16 feet underwater the next day. However, none of the four soldiers have been found yet.
While officials did not identify the soldiers, Georgia Franco told 11 Alive News that her husband was one of them. She said that Sgt. Edvin Franco is originally from Glendale, California and takes ‘pride in his role’.
The two met in 2022 on a dating app after Georgia said she moved from South Carolina to Georgia.
"It's a Bumble love story. You know, a perfect fairy tale," she told the Atlanta-based publication. The couple welcomed their first child in October last year. Three months later, Edvin was called to Lithuania on his third deployment.
“We were fortunate, we got the opportunity to talk every day,” his wife added. She said that the two spoke on Monday night, at around 7 PM in Savannah.
"I was like, ‘Oh, why are you awake? You should be asleep,’ and he had just told me, you know, ‘We’re going on a recovery mission,’" she recalled.
Georgia spoke about the time she found out that her husband was missing. “You know, word broke out that they never made it and they couldn’t find them.”
"They knocked on my door at 11 PM and told me their (soldiers) status was unknown. Since then, we’ve had crisis teams and chaplains with us. The support has been overwhelming. Our worst fear as a military spouse is getting a knock on your door," Georgia said.
The 22-year-old also made an urgent plea. In a message for other people, she said: "Just don’t believe everything that you read. And know that these are people, and we are families, and we are hurting. Until we have confirmation of anything, just keep us in your prayers and your thoughts. No matter what happens, this is going to be the most difficult navigation to go about. And just know that we are here, and we are doing the best we can."
