DADDY! - Elation as Iraq heroes come home - Mirror

RAF Tornado GR4 flypast at RAF Marham yesterday before landing on home soil

With arms outstretched and a beaming smile, Daddy's home.

Squadron Leader Nathan Giles sweeps up daughter Holly, four, and Edward, two, for their first cuddles in months.

It was a precious moment yesterday after another tough tour of duty in Iraq.

Squadron Leader Giles, 37, said simply: "It's great to be home."

His wife Ann, 38, held back tears as she looked on. She said: "It's nice to have him back - he's been on tour for the last five years.

"And he is off to Afghanistan in a few months."

The Tornado pilot was one of six returning from the Gulf. They staged a flypast before landing to cheers at RAF Marham near King's Lynn, Norfolk. Senior officers and 100 relatives were at the homecoming after one of the RAF's longest deployments and to mark the end of 18 years of ops in Iraq.

But there was disappointment that Armed Forces Minister Bob Ainsworth failed to show. A diary mix-up meant he was at a meeting with MoD Chiefs of Staff.

A soldier was killed in a blast yesterday in Helmand province, Afghanistan, taking the British death toll to 166 since 2001.