John Kingsman Beling (October 29, 1919 – November 5, 2010) was a rear admiral of the United States Navy whose final assignment was as commander, Iceland Defense Force in the early 1970s.

Commissioned in 1942, he served as a Naval Aviator in the Pacific Theater in World War II, and was seriously burned when his aircraft was shot down during the Marianas Campaign.

He made a full recovery from his injuries, and went on to serve in a variety of staff positions, attended the Naval War College, and commanded three attack squadrons and two ships.

[2] After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Beling joined the Naval Reserve as an aviation specialist, and was commissioned an Ensign upon completion of flight training in 1943, after which he headed to the Pacific theater as a dive bomber pilot with Bombing Squadron ONE (VB-1).

[5][6] Then-Captain Beling was commanding officer of USS Forrestal on July 29, 1967, when a Zuni rocket accidentally fired while on deck, striking another aircraft.

As night fell, Beling recited a prayer to the surviving crew:[citation needed] Our heavenly Father, we see this day as one minute and yet a lifetime for all of us.

While Forrestal was in the shipyard for repairs, Beling was temporarily assigned to work in the office of Admiral Thomas H. Moorer, then the Chief of Naval Operations.

He retired from active duty in 1973, at which time he went to work as director of the Net Technical Assessment Office, responsible for comparing and contrasting U.S. and Soviet weapons systems for the Secretary of Defense.

Rear Admiral Beling received a number of personal awards, as well as campaign medals from World War II to Vietnam: