Aviation Ordnanceman Third Class Cunningham was a member of Patrol Squadron 9, assigned to Whibdey Island Naval Air Station, Seattle, Washington. On 21 June 1951, he was in a PB4Y-2 Privateer patrol bomber on a training mission when the aircraft crashed in Skagit Bay about 50 miles north of Seattle killing him.

Cunningham was awarded the National Defense Service Medal.