LOS ANGELES (AP) — Randy “Duke” Cunningham, whose feats as a U.S. Navy flying ace during the Vietnam War catapulted him to a U.S House of Representatives career that ended in disgrace when he was convicted of accepting $2.4 million in bribes, has died. He was 83.

Cunningham died Wednesday at a hospital in a Little Rock, Arkansas, according to former Rep. Duncan L. Hunter, who spent time with him a week before his passing.

He “represented the very best of American heroes who go out to meet our enemies at the gates," said Hunter, whose served alongside Cunningham in Congress.

Cunningham was one of the most highly decorated pilots in the Vietnam War, becoming the first Navy fighter ace in the war for shooting down five enemy aircraft. He received a Navy Cross, two Silver Stars, 15 Air Meda

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