New York funeral held for reporter killed in Syria

War correspondent Marie Colvin is being laid to rest in the Long Island community of her childhood where she first decided to become a reporter. A funeral is being held Monday at St. Dominic Roman Catholic Church in Oyster Bay for the Sunday Times of London journalist killed while covering the slaughter of Syrian civilians. The 56-year-old Queens native died on Feb. 22 when the Syrian government troops attacked a makeshift media center in the Syrian city of Homs. In one of her last dispatches she said that reporting on the horrors there might “move people to think, why is this going on?” At her wake Sunday, mourners passed by a portrait of Colvin by a Sri Lankan artist. She lost her left eye in 2001 in that country’s civil war and wore her signature eye patch since then. The British government has ordered an investigation into Colvin’s death to build a war-crimes case against Syrian dictator Bashar Assad. Hours before Colvin died, she appeared in a final live broadcast with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, telling him the Syrians were shelling “a city of cold, starving civilians.” “It’s a complete and utter lie that they are only going after terrorists,” she added. “There are no military targets here.” The victims were civilians. “Absolutely horrific, a 2-year old child had been hit,” Colvin said. “His little tummy just kept heaving until he died.” It was a challenge to get Colvin’s remains out of Syria amid the violence. A Polish diplomat received her remains from the International Red Cross, flying them home to New York via Paris. She’s is survived by two brothers, two sisters, and her mother, who lived in East Norwich, Long Island, near Oyster Bay. Colvin was a graduate of Oyster Bay High School.