The following year he attended Officer Candidate School at Fort Riley, Kansas and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Infantry on 20 December 1949.

In January 1973, Kingston assumed command of the Joint Casualty Resolution Center at Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand.

When two of his companies made contact with the forward positions of a Viet Cong battalion, Colonel Kingston landed by helicopter and assumed control of ground operations.

Throughout the three day period, Colonel Kingston repeatedly exposed himself to hostile fire, to encourage his troops and direct air strikes and artillery against the Viet Cong emplacements.

His aggressive leadership and personal courage inspired his men to fight with renewed vigor and defeat the numerically superior hostile force.

[8] On March 23, 2007, he was interred at Arlington National Cemetery[9] next to his wife Josephine R. "Jo" (Rae) Kingston (5 January 1924 – 11 July 1992).