Former Iowa Congressman Leonard Boswell, a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War, has died at the age of 84. Boswell spent much of his political life representing southern Iowa in the state senate and then in the U.S. House before losing a bid for reelection to a ninth term.

Boswell was first elected to the Iowa Senate in 1984In 1996, Boswell won a seat in the U.S. House, where he served for 16 years.

Boswell, an assault helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War, had a non-cancerous tumor removed from his abdomen in 2005. In 2015, Boswell announced he was having a tumor evaluated and he said the tumor could be linked to the chemical known as “Agent Orange” that was used during the war in Vietnam.