PORTLAND, Ore., May 4, 2020
/PRNewswire/ -- V-E Day on May 8 marks the 75th
anniversary of the Allied victory in Europe. Veterans such as Ralph C. Shivers Jr. 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.
U-Haul is celebrating 75 years of service in 2020. WWII
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 abandoned most of
their belongings since one-way trailer rentals did not yet
exist.
From that idea, an industry was born and a new level of mobility
became attainable for every American family. U-Haul was founded in
Ridgefield, Wash., just 20 miles
north of Portland, with the first
Company-built trailers being assembled in the Carty family ranch
milk barn.
To commemorate both anniversaries, U-Haul is celebrating former
Team Members and U-Haul neighborhood dealers who served in WWII,
such as Portland native Ralph
Shivers.
Man of Service
Shivers was born in January 1926.
He attended West Linn High School, graduating in 1943. He and a
friend spent the summer of 1943 hitchhiking around the country,
hopping rides on a couple of freight trains in the process. That
fall, he returned home to Portland
and worked as a welder's assistant. In January 1944, he enlisted in the Naval
Reserve.
In October 1944, Shivers
was assigned to the USS Craven (DD382), a Gridley-class
destroyer, as a fire controlman. He boarded the Craven in
Pearl Harbor while it was undergoing an overhaul. In January 1945, the Craven transitioned to the
Atlantic Theater through the Panama Canal.
The Craven performed convoy duty from New York to France until the war in
Europe ended that May. Afterward,
the Craven ranged throughout the Mediterranean Sea on escort,
training and transport duties until January 1946.
For his service, Shivers was awarded the Victory, American
Theater, Asiatic-Pacific Theater and European Theater
medals. He was honorably discharged in May 1946.
Shivers went on to enroll at Oregon State
University and began working part time for U-Haul, doing
repair work and hooking up trailers in Portland. He graduated from OSU with a
bachelor's degree in geography and transportation.
U-Haul Career
In January 1951, Shivers began
working full-time for U-Haul on an Oakland, Calif., rental
lot. That August, he became one of only three U-Haul fieldmen,
blanketing the entire U.S. for his route. Shivers and his
bride of four months, Mary, embarked on a nine-month
"honeymoon" servicing U-Haul neighborhood dealers across the
country. Mary did her part by learning how to repair electrical
wiring on trailers.
Over the next 20 years, Shivers served in a number of key
capacities, including field director responsible for establishing
and developing U-Haul companies in various parts of the country. He
established the first U-Haul Traffic Department in
Portland; served as U-Haul Company
of Alabama president; U-Haul
International vice president; U-Haul International president; and
vice president of distribution services – the title he held upon
leaving the Company in 1974.
The Shivers have been married for 68 years and live
in Hood River. They have a son,
Steve, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
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.
Veteran Initiative
Today, U-Haul serves all 50 states and 10 Canadian
provinces, helping an estimated 11 million families move every
year. Shivers is one of the many veterans who laid the
foundation for the present prosperity U-Haul enjoys.
U-Haul continues to aggressively recruit veterans and gives them
preference in the hiring process, having been recognized repeatedly
as one of the nation's top veteran-friendly employers. U-Haul is
also committed to honoring veterans and supporting veteran causes.
This is accomplished through direct assistance to veteran groups,
as well as participation and sponsorship of Memorial Day and
Veterans Day parades, and Pearl
Harbor tributes.
These 2020 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. The tower will offer 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.
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, Ralph.
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 our COVID-19 information page, click on
uhaul.com/announcement.
Contact:
Jeff Lockridge
Sebastien Reyes
E-mail: publicrelations@uhaul.com
Phone: 602-760-4941
Website: uhaul.com
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SOURCE U-Haul