MOM'S NEXT WISH: BOTH SONS SAFE AT HOME.

Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY

Odds and ends from around the Valley:

Sometimes long shots come in and dreams do come true. Both happened a few weeks ago to Maria Spirtos.

Earlier this year, I wrote a column about how the Calabasas widow didn't feel much like celebrating Christmas last year because her 21- year-old son, Michael, was serving in an Army combat unit in Iraq.

Her oldest son, 22-year-old Sakellanios, knew his brother would never forgive him if he didn't decorate their home for Christmas because it had always been the favorite time of year for his mother and late father.

One day, while Maria was gone, Sake - who was home on leave for the holidays from his final year at West Point - laid out strings of red, white and blue lights on the long, sloping front lawn of the house.

When the sun went down, he walked his mother down the driveway to the front of the house and hit the switch, illuminating the lights that spelled out ``Support Our Troops.''

The lights stayed lit long after the holidays were over, serving as a rallying point of neighborhood support for all the troops.

``I know it's a long shot, but every night I dream about Michael coming home from Iraq in time to be there at Sake's graduation from West Point and pin his 2nd lieutenant bars on,'' Maria told me one night in early January.

Well, her long shot came in. When grad Sake Spirtos stood at attention to have his 2nd lieutenant's bars pinned on his shoulders a few weeks ago, it wasn't an officer standing there in front of him. It was his brother, Mike - home from Iraq on a two-week leave.

``They both had tears in their eyes as Michael stepped back after pinning the bars on Sake, and gave his brother his first salute as an officer,'' Maria said.

``Then they hugged. I don't know what they said after that because I was crying so hard.''

Today, Michael is back with his Army unit in Iraq, and Sake is training to fly Black Hawk helicopters.

And their mother has a new, nightly dream. She's standing on the front lawn of the family home, hugging and welcoming home her sons safely soon.

It was also an emotional day recently at James Monroe High School, where more than 300 students got a lesson in courage and bravery from a man who'd attended the North Hills school 40 years ago.

Bill Perkins had enlisted in the Marines after graduating from Monroe, and went on to become a Marine Corps film correspondent in Vietnam - the only combat correspondent to be awarded the Medal of Honor.

``On Oct. 12, 1967, while filming heavy fighting in Quang Tri province with the North Vietnamese Army, Bill hurled himself upon an enemy hand grenade and saved the lives of at least three of his fellow Marines at the cost of his own life,'' his citation reads.

Debora Masterson, who went to high school with Perkins, spent 10 years researching his service in Vietnam, and made a film documentary, ``Above and Beyond,'' on her classmate's heroism.

After Los Angeles City Council President Alex Padilla opened the program talking about Perkins' sacrifice, Masterson showed the documentary to the student body. Then she introduced two Marines whose lives were saved by Bill's heroism that day.

``The line of students at the microphone kept growing and the event went longer than planned,'' Masterson said. ``It was gratifying to see these young people touched deeply by middle-aged men who went off to war 40 years ago when they were their age.

``The Vietnam vets spoke of the horror of war. That war is about staying alive and keeping your friends alive. It is not about some great cause. It is not about the politicians who sent you there. War is about killing and dying.''

How's this for a family graduation highlight film? This month, mom Deborah Plat graduates from the University of California, Los Angeles, with a master's degree in education.

Her daughter, Sarah, is graduating from Portola Middle School's Highly Gifted Magnet in Tarzana, while another daughter, Katie, graduates from North Hollywood High's Highly Gifted Magnet.

``Of course, three graduations in one family is wonderful, but I wanted to also give a high five to public education,'' Deborah says.

``My daughters are both products of LAUSD, and they have been blessed with amazing teachers and schools the whole way through.'

The Los Angeles Police Department's new Mission Area community police station will be hosting a blood drive from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday to benefit the trauma center at Northridge Hospital Medical Center.

How's this for a deal? You give a pint of blood, and you'll get a coupon for a pint of Baskin-Robbins ice cream, in addition to a free T-shirt.

The blood drive takes place in the first floor community room at the station, 11121 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Mission Hills.

And finally, June 25 marks anniversary of the start of the Korean War, and VFW Post 2323 in Granada Hills will be honoring all Korean War vets with a special program that day.

It begins at 1 p.m. at the veterans monument at Zelzah and Chatsworth avenues. A bronze plaque will be placed in the concrete under the veterans monument National Liberty Tree.

Dennis McCarthy, [phone]

dennis.mccarthy(at)dailynews.com