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by AUSTIN FENNER, JONATHAN LEMIRE and PAUL H.B. SHIN
Nearly four years after the 9/11 attacks, the heartbroken loved ones of fallen Firefighter Keithroy Maynard will bid their final farewell to him tomorrow after an unexpected discovery.
Maynard's remains were among the last to be identified by the city medical examiner before the painstaking effort was suspended recently.
"I'm overwhelmed," said his brother Vernon Maynard, 38, who works for the city Sanitation Department. "I feel in a certain form we are blessed - that we have something of Keith's. But at the same time, it takes us back to four years ago."
Keithroy Maynard was one of seven firefighters with Manhattan's Engine 33 who perished in the collapse of the World Trade Center.
The 30-year-old immigrant from Montserrat treasured his adopted U.S. citizenship so much that he voted early in the primaries that day, then rushed to join his comrades when hijacked planes crashed into the twin towers.
"He was a can-do guy. He proved his bravery time and time again," said Lt. Bob LaRocca, who was at the same Greenwich Village firehouse with Keithroy Maynard for about a year. A memorial with photos of Keithroy Maynard and his fallen comrades now adorns the wall of the firehouse.
Keithroy Maynard's nephew, Malik Maynard, 11, also remembered him as a larger-than-life hero with a big heart.
"He was my role model," said Malik. "I want to be like my uncle and finish off his work," he said.
Keithroy Maynard's remains were identified shortly before the city exhausted its attempts on April 22 to identify those killed at Ground Zero, said Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner's office. But 1,161 victims - almost half of those killed - are still unidentified.
Their remains will be preserved in case future advances in forensic science allow the city to resume identifications.
The firefighter's son, also named Keithroy, was 6 years old when his father died and has missed him terribly, Vernon Maynard said.
Keithroy Maynard's funeral will be held at 11 a.m. at the Church of the Master, 86 Morningside Ave., in Morningside Heights.
With Carrie Melago and Marissa Widdison
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