LEWISTOWN, Mont., June 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- U-Haul® was
born as World War II was coming to a close, with its first one-way
trailers made available to the moving public on or about
July 4, 1945.
Just as U-Haul is celebrating 75 years of service this year,
America will soon celebrate the 75th anniversary of V-J Day. This
signifies Victory over Japan and
is observed Sept. 2 when the signing
of surrender occurred, effectively ending WWII.
Veterans such as Lewistown
native Thomas W. "Tom" Safford returned home to start a new life
after the war, and in doing so planted the seeds of prosperity for
U-Haul, a product of the peace for which they fought.
WWII-era Navy veteran L.S. "Sam"
Shoen and his wife, Anna Mary Carty
Shoen, conceived U-Haul in June
1945 when they recognized a basic need while moving up the
West Coast, having left behind most of their belongings since
one-way trailer rentals did not yet exist. From that idea, an
industry was created and a new level of mobility became attainable
for every American family.
New Display at Pearl
Harbor
Today, U-Haul is committed to honoring
veterans and supporting veteran causes. This is accomplished
through recruiting veterans and giving them hiring preference;
direct assistance to veteran groups; participation and sponsorship
of Memorial Day and Veterans Day parades; and supporting
Pearl Harbor tributes.
The Company's 75th anniversary tributes will peak triumphantly
with the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum's dedication of the renovated
Ford Island Control Tower on Aug. 29.
U-Haul Pacific Theater veterans' bios and photos will be displayed
in the tower lobby. Safford will be among those memorialized on the
lobby wall.
The tower will showcase a new elevator, gifted by U-Haul CEO
Joe Shoen, providing public access
to the observation deck where America's lone WWII aviation
battlefield can be revered and our heroes remembered.
Ready to Serve
Safford was born in 1920 to Mr. and
Mrs. G.M. Safford in Lewistown.
From the time he was 10 years old, Safford worked as a farmhand,
making a game out of trying to outwork fully grown farmhands. He
graduated from Missoula County High school in 1938.
Safford enlisted in the Army Air Corps in June 1941. He served in the South Pacific as a
bombsight mechanic. His unit was dispatched to Australia as part of the Allies' unsuccessful
1941-42 campaign to defend the Dutch East Indies (present-day
Indonesia) against Japanese
occupation. Safford also supervised the conversion of
"The Swoose" B-17D Flying Fortress bomber. Its first
combat mission of the war was a high-speed transport plane for Lt.
Gen. George Brett, commander of the
Allied Air Forces in the Southwest Pacific. Safford was awarded the
American Defense Services Medal and the Asiatic-Pacific Medal (one
Battle Star).
In October 1945, Safford was
discharged. He attended and graduated from Montana State University with a fine arts degree.
He did his graduate work at Washington
State College. During the ensuing years, he studied
engineering, math and statistics at Oregon
State, UCLA, Penn State and Texas
Tech, garnering the equivalent of a Masters of Engineering
degree with more than 230 hours of college credit.
U-Haul Tenure
Safford joined U-Haul in 1952 to run the
advertising department, which consisted of a desk, a chair and a
Graflex Speed Graphic camera. Over the next 39 years, he served in
many capacities, including assistant to the president, safety
director, vice president, and director of product planning and
development. His ingenuity and mechanical skills were legendary,
spanning the full range of U-Haul equipment and operations.
There is a distinguished list of achievements attributed to
Safford. He built the first U-Haul headquarters in Portland, Ore., by moving and converting a
WWII Army barracks. He built and then opened the first U-Haul-owned
and -operated moving center. He is also credited with redesigning
the running "Sammy U" logo, named for the Company's co-founder, in
1952.
Safford semi-retired in 1985 due to health
reasons, and passed away in September 1991. He
is survived by a granddaughter, Ember Shapiro, and two great
granddaughters, Kaitlyn and Brittney Shapiro.
Veteran Ties and Appreciation
The Shoens started
U-Haul upon Sam's discharge with $4,000 of accumulated Navy pay and the courage formed by the
cauldron of WWII. With the help of other veterans, the young couple
forged their new enterprise from the freedom that victory
produced.
Today, U-Haul serves all 50 states and 10 Canadian
provinces, helping millions of families move every
year. Safford is one of the many veterans who laid the
foundation for the present prosperity U-Haul enjoys.
U-Haul is one of a myriad of companies built by these incredible
veterans, who are to be saluted and remembered during this 75th
anniversary celebration. Thank you, Tom.
Find more veteran tributes in the History and Culture
section of myuhaulstory.com.
About U-Haul
Since 1945, U-Haul has been the No. 1 choice of
do-it-yourself movers, with a network of 22,000 locations across
all 50 states and 10 Canadian provinces. U-Haul Truck Share 24/7
offers secure access to U-Haul trucks every hour of every day
through the customer dispatch option on their smartphones and our
proprietary Live Verify technology. Our customers' patronage has
enabled the U-Haul fleet to grow to approximately 167,000 trucks,
120,000 trailers and 43,000 towing devices. U-Haul offers nearly
697,000 rooms and 60.7 million square feet of self-storage space at
owned and managed facilities throughout North America. U-Haul is the largest installer
of permanent trailer hitches in the automotive aftermarket
industry, and is the largest retailer of propane in the U.S. For
information on moving safely and smartly with U-Haul during the
COVID-19 pandemic, please reference
https://www.multivu.com/players/English/8601451-u-haul-moving-season-covid-19-safety/.
Contact:
Jeff Lockridge
Sebastien Reyes
E-mail: publicrelations@uhaul.com
Phone: 602-760-4941
Website: uhaul.com
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SOURCE U-Haul