BY MICHAEL VASQUEZ

                      Despite their life-size photographs hanging in the church entrance, the four Brothers to the Rescue
                      fliers who died over international waters six years ago this week were not the only ones remembered
                      at a memorial service Sunday in Miami-Dade.

                      The afternoon Mass at St. Thomas the Apostle church -- at 7377 SW 64th St. -- was technically in honor
                      of the four men, shot down by a Cuban MiG Feb. 24, 1996, while aboard unarmed Cessnas.

                      But the Rev. Daniel I. Kubala of St. Thomas said the service was also for the ``countless nameless
                      people who have given up their lives for the freedom of a beautiful country. . . for all martyrs.''

                      Hundreds who attended the Mass sang religious hymns and America the Beautiful.

                      As the service ended, crowds offered their sympathies to relatives and friends of the deceased fliers.
                      Serafin Viña, 79, looked over the picture of her late friend Carlos Costa and smiled.

                      ''He was a nice young fellow,'' Viña said. ``But he's with God now.''

                      Costa died a few months before his 30th birthday.

                      Before the Mass, Brothers founder José Basulto took part in a memorial flight from Opa-locka Airport to
                      the stretch of water he calls ``Martyr's Point.''

                      ''This is not something that is pleasant for me to do, but I have to. It's my duty,'' Basulto said of the
                      flight.

                      Basulto added that time has not made it easier to deal with the deaths because many of the those he
                      thinks played a role in the incident have not been held accountable. No. 1 on Basulto's list: Fidel Castro.