Corporal Cunningham was a member of Headquarters Company, 31st Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. He was listed as Missing in Action while fighting the enemy in North Korea on 1 December 1950. He was presumed dead on 15 February 1954. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.

Cunningham was awarded the Purple Heart, the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.