12 March 2012 Last updated at 18:16 ET

New York funeral for Homs reporter Marie Colvin

 

Marie Colvin's mother, Rosemarie, attended the funeral with many of her daughter's colleagues

The funeral of veteran war reporter Marie Colvin has taken place in her hometown of Oyster Bay, New York.

The US correspondent was killed alongside French photographer Remi Ochlik when a shell hit the building where she was sheltering in the Syrian city of Homs.

The 56-year-old, who covered conflicts from Chechnya to the Arab Spring, was remembered for her fearlessness.

The priest praised her for being "a voice to the voiceless".

The service, at St Dominic's Roman Catholic Church, was attended by senior figures from her newspaper, The Sunday Times, including media mogul Rupert Murdoch, who owns the publication.

'Seeking truth'

"Marie was an absolutely extraordinary war correspondent, I think the finest war correspondent of her generation," said John Witherow, the editor of the newspaper where she worked since 1985, after the service.

"She was also a wonderful woman, a compassionate, caring woman and, as we heard in the service today, she was funny and irreverent and she was just perfect," he added.

Marie Colvin died alongside her colleague, Remi Ochlik

But many who may not have known her personally but for whom her reports were personal also came to pay their respects.

A group of immigrants from Sri Lanka - where Marie Colvin's reporting from the conflict in 2001 cost her one eye - held a placard calling her the "uncrowned queen of intrepid journalists''.

"She was looking for beauty and truth, and she was telling the world about the vicious crimes,'' said Malek Jandali, a Syrian-American musician whose family is from Homs and who came from Atlanta to attend the funeral.

As the funeral service came to an end, Colvin's mother, Rosemarie, stood in front of her daughter's casket with tear-filled eyes, placing a cross and white rose on top.

Born in Long Island, New York, in the mid 1950s, Colvin was famous among her peers for her determination to try to cover every war zone in the world, and to be the first person there if possible.

On the website of the Long Island funeral home, others who could not be there in person paid tribute.

"Marie Colvin will always be in the hearts of each and every Syrian wherever they are," wrote Reem Faraj.

"She was and will always be one of the heroes who made the cries of Syrians and other victims in the world be heard."

Her colleague Christina Lamb called Marie, who died on 22 February, "the bravest person I know".