TAFT, Calif. -- A post office in Taft is one step closer to being renamed Larry S. Pierce Post Office in honor of a local soldier killed in Vietnam.

A bill to rename the post office on North Street in Taft honoring Staff Sgt. Larry Pierce has been approved in Washington DC.

U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy spoke on the house floor saying Sgt. Pierce is an American hero.

Sgt. Pierce sacrificed his life in 1965 by throwing himself onto a mine to save the lives of his fellow soldiers.

President Lyndon Johnson awarded Pierce the Congressional Medal of Honor in 1966.

The bill now has one last stop as it’s headed to the President's desk for his signature this week.