{"id":86983,"date":"2026-04-16T07:35:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T07:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/retireenews\/?p=86983"},"modified":"2026-04-16T18:25:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T18:25:14","slug":"the-three-acts-of-capt-melvin-k-matsui","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/retireenews\/2026\/04\/16\/the-three-acts-of-capt-melvin-k-matsui\/","title":{"rendered":"The Three Acts of Lt. Col. Melvin K. Matsui"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Lt. Col. Melvin K. Matsui was a determined individual. He faced challenges professionally and personally but always tried to be honorable and do well. Melvin Matsui\u2019s first act begins with the Vietnam war as he had joined the U.S Air Force where he served with the 4th \u00a0Tactical Fighter Squadron, 366th Tactical Fighter Wing, at Takhli Air Base, Thailand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On July 29, 1972 Melvin Matsui F-4 Phantom plane was shot down, and he was captured by North Vietnam. For 236 days, Melvin Matsui remained in captivity until 1973 when a prisoner of war repatriation\u00a0effort took place. He received the Bronze Star Medal with Combat \u201cV\u201d for his heroic behavior and the Prisoner of War Medal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t talk much about his time in Vietnam but what he did share was about the comradery from the service members, the bond created through food,\u201d said Melvin Matsui\u2019s son Marc Matsui. Apparently, the food in Vietnam was not good, so the Airmen would make a feast with the food they received from back home, such as vienna sausage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1974, Melvin Matsui started a new chapter by joining the Hawai\u02bbi Air National Guard, as a Weapon Systems Officer who flew with the 199th Fighter Squadron. He stayed in the Guard for the next 22 years,\u00a0ultimately retiring as commander of the 169th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron\u00a0in 1996.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marc Matsui recalled his father talking about his time with the Guard, \u201che was fond of the Guard and enjoyed most of the people he worked with.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe liked flying, it was hard to describe the experience though, which is probably why so many pilots bought sports cars after getting desk jobs,\u201d Marc Matsui joked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Melvin Matsui longest chapter was retirement, something not many are blessed with. He spent time with his kids and grandkids, and moved to Seattle in 2014 to be closer to them. He would play golf, go on road trips, watch Seahawk games and go to rock concerts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe last concert I went to with my dad was Bob Seger,\u201d Marc Matsui said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne time we were on an Alaska cruise and had to disembark down this long gangway, the ship was offering wheelchairs, but my dad would not use them. I tried to convince him, but he was determined to walk down the gangway,\u201d said Marc Matsui.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Determination was a theme in all stories about Melvin Matsui: from flying with the Guard with his back problems from his POW days, to refusing to use the handicap permit during his retirement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Melvin Matsui was not perfect; his time in Vietnam gave him PTSD and his marriage of 20+ years ended in divorce, but he tried to mean well. One thing that really helped him was psychological support from the VA. When Marc Matsui\u2019s sister got married, Melvin Matsui invited the VA psychologist to the wedding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marc Matsui had many great stories about his father, but what his father was able to do was \u201cpass on the best parts of himself,\u201d Marc said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
Learn more <\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The State of Hawaii, Department of Defense (HIDOD)\u2019 Retiree News does not endorse any of the external hyperlinks listed or posted on this site. This includes linked websites, information, products, or services contained therein. We are a government run website for which transparency and accountability are paramount. HIDOD cannot have the appearance of endorsement and are bound by the HIDOD Social Media Policy concerning political posts being respectful, honest, and accurate. Operational Security will additionally be adhered to. Retiree News does not exercise any editorial control over the information you may find at linked sites. Some of the sites linked to may limit the number of stories you can access without a paid subscription. All links were provided with the intent of meeting the mission of the HIDOD\u2019s version of Retiree News.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lt. Col. Melvin K. Matsui was a determined individual. He faced challenges professionally and personally but always tried to be honorable and do well. Melvin Matsui\u2019s first act begins with the Vietnam war as he had joined the U.S Air Force where he served with the 4th \u00a0Tactical Fighter Squadron, 366th Tactical Fighter Wing, at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":189,"featured_media":86984,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"22036,48002,35100,29122,34383,8886","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[12398,12397,12396,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-1970s","category-1980s","category-1990s","category-history"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/retireenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/retireenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/retireenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/retireenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/189"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/retireenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86983"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/retireenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86983\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86989,"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/retireenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86983\/revisions\/86989"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/retireenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/retireenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/retireenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/retireenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}