Source: The Sun News

http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/sunnews/news/local/7613594.htm

On January 1, 2004 The Sun News ran an Associated Press story that reported, "American, South Vietnamese and Buddhist flags fluttered as hundreds attended a funeral Wednesday for a monk who died last week after setting himself on fire. Thich Chan Hy's dramatic act brought renewed vigor to campaigns against persecution of Buddhists still living in Vietnam, supporters said outside the Lien Hoa Temple...Thich Van Dam, a monk from Ananda Buddhist Institute in Falls Church, Va., rang a bell during the prayers and a ceremonial procession that carried Hy's coffin to a waiting hearse, which was to carry the monk's remains across the city for cremation. Dam called the 74-year-old Hy's decision to set himself on fire - which the monk told no one about beforehand - 'the most significant, important event' of the recent struggle for religious freedom under Vietnam's government."