To the cheers and tears of flag-waving families and friends, about 50 soldiers from a Las Vegas Valley National Guard unit returned home safely Saturday after a yearlong deployment in Afghanistan.
For 4-year-old Genevah Thomas, it was the long-awaited hug from her father, Spc. Anthony Thomas, that made her crack a grin from cheek-to-cheek with her brown eyes sparkling beneath a princess crown.
"I really missed my daughter," said the 6-foot-2 Thomas, a military policeman who joined the unit after moving to Las Vegas from Wisconsin in 2002.
