Three years haven't dulled the memories for Miriam de la Peña, who still remembers son Mario de la Peña's appetite for Total cereal in the morning, his love for flying, his passion for mom's cooking.

``I keep him so alive,'' the teary-eyed mother said. ``I still expect him to come home for dinner. His seat at the dinner table has never been filled.''

More than 400 others crammed into a West Dade church Wednesday to help de la Peña keep alive the memories of her son and the three other Brothers to the Rescue pilots and volunteers -- Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre Jr., and Pablo Morales -- shot down near Cuba Feb. 24, 1996.

Young and old, families, friends and perfect strangers streamed into St. Agatha Catholic Church on Southwest 107th Avenue, a simple church with white walls and worn wood benches, for the third anniversary Mass.

Propped before the priest's pulpit was a placard with the smiling pictures of the four slain men, shot out of the sky over international waters by Cuban MiGs.

Mothers, fathers and daughters of the men took turns reading passages from the Bible. Sitting quietly in attendance were Jose Basulto, founder and leader of Brothers to the Rescue, and several people wearing polo shirts with the search-and-rescue group's emblem.

Witnesses join worship

The Mass also had two surprise guests: Benedict and Barbara LaMonica, the Connecticut couple who videotaped the billowing smoke of the shoot-down from the deck of Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines' Majesty of the Seas.

``I heard two loud bangs, and I thought they were just skeet shooting,'' said Barbara LaMonica, who was returning to Miami from a seven-day jaunt through the western Caribbean. ``Then I saw the smoke. It wasn't until that night that we realized what we saw.''

Toward its end, the Mass turned from spiritual to patriotic -- when spontaneous cries of ``¡Viva Cuba libre!'' followed a rendition of the Cuban national anthem -- to political.

Little hope from Washington

``The executive branch of this government is not giving us much hope,'' said Mario de la Peña Sr. The de la Peñas and other family members have been lobbying Washington for criminal injunctions against the Cuban military officials responsible for shooting down the planes.

``They're basically saying the ones who killed our son are not enemies of this country,'' he said.

Staff writer Rick Jervis can be reached by e-mail at rjervis@herald.com