Innis Palmer Swift
Major General, U.S. Army

Innis Palmer Swift was born on 7 February 1882 in Fort Laramie, WY. He was the son of U.S. Army Major General Eben Swift and Susan Palmer Swift.

Swift graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1904 and was assigned to the Cavalry at Fort Clark. After attending Mounted Service School, he served in the Philippines, where General John J. Pershing selected him as his Aide-de-Camp. He served in Mexico with the 13th Cavalry Regiment.

During World War I, he was Assistant Chief of Staff of the 86th Division. He graduated from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff School in 1923 and remained at the school as a faculty member until 1929. In 1936, he was assigned to Fort Bliss where he commanded the 8th Cavalry Regiment and then the 2nd Cavalry Brigade.

He was promoted to Major General in 1941 and named as Commander of Fort Bliss. He oversaw the conversion of the 1st Cavalry Division from horse to mechanized Cavalry and in the early part of World War II commanded the Division in the South Pacific. In 1944, he was Commanding General of the task force that recaptured the Admiralty Islands. Later he was Commander of I Corps and participated in the conquest of the Philippines.

He retired from active service in 1946.

He was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal and the Legion of Merit as well as the Order of the Aztec Eagle from the Mexican Government.

In Retirement

After retiring from active service, he lived in San Antonio with his wife, Lucille. They had four daughters; Pamela, Lucille, Susanne and Sally.

Death and Burial

Major General Innis Palmer Swift died after a heart attack on 3 November 1953 at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, TX. He is buried at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio.