Marie Colvin hailed as bravest war journalist

Jumbo Editorial Team

Marie Colvin, the Sunday Times correspondent killed in Syria in February, was hailed as the bravest of the brave war reporter at a memorial service having taken place at St Martin-in-the-Fields church in London.

Singer Cerys Matthews performed two songs, including Bob Dylan's Blowin' in the Wind, and ex-Foreign Secretary David Miliband read a poem in tribute as politicians and journalists recorded their appreciation for Colvin who died at the age of 56. 

Also at the service were emotional Channel 4 newsman Jon Snow, Foreign Secretary William Hague and photographer Paul Conroy, who was injured in the attack when Colvin lost her life on February 22 in a building which was serving as a media centre in the city of Homs which was struck by a mortar round. 

The Sunday Times editor, John Witherow, desrcribed her as the greatest war correspondent of the generation. "Marie inspired love, affection and respect wherever she went. She had a gift of friendship and she nurtured many friends with as much love as she cared for her journalism. Everyone here knows we have lost someone unbelievably special and our lives are poorer for not being able to see that smile, hear that throaty laugh and simply enjoy the company of a remarkable woman who was the greatest war correspondent of her generation," he said.

BBC foreign correspondent Lyse Doucet, who had worked with Colvin in Israel, Iraq, Afghanistan, Egypt and Libya and Syria, paid tribute during the service, saying "the bravest of the brave was also the kindest of the kind". 

The service also heard a poem composed by Alan Jenkins, deputy editor of the Times Literary Supplement who was a close friend of Colvin.

"There are many like me who feel that they knew her because of her brilliant ability as a writer to open our eyes and our hearts to the reality of the world and tell the stories of real people. She experienced the struggle and the fear and the pain from alongside them and knew it intimately because she loved life and longed to put an end to suffering, the suffering that she reported on," the Rev Richard Carter, of St Martin-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square told the congregation: 

Ex-Foreign Secretary Miliband said it was an extraordinary memorial service, "passion, respect, humour. Honoured to be part of it".