Ira Platt Swift (8 February 1898 – 29 July 1987) was a United States Army major general.

Swift was born in Chicora, Wayne County, Mississippi and raised in Bon Secour, Alabama.

[1] He entered the United States Military Academy in June 1916, graduating on 1 November 1918 because of World War I.

[3] Swift was assigned to the Cavalry Rifle Team at Fort Riley, Kansas and Camp Perry, Ohio from June to September 1928.

Swift was promoted to captain in March 1935 and given command of Troop E, 6th Cavalry at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia from August 1935 to June 1936.

He then served as assistant commander of the 2nd Infantry Division at Fort Lewis, Washington from April 1947 to July 1948.

Sent to Europe in July 1948, he served as commander of United States Forces Austria from October 1948 to January 1951.

After supervising combat operations there, he was relieved by Major General Samuel T. Williams in July 1952 and awarded the Distinguished Service Medal.

[12] On 20 March 1921 in Des Moines, Iowa, Swift married Gertrude Morgan Perry (13 September 1896 – 4 May 1979).

[1][13] She was the daughter of Howard Rand Perry (19 June 1868 – 23 April 1945), an 1893 West Point graduate who commanded a regiment in France during World War I.

[14][15] Her brother Howard Rand Perry Jr. (13 August 1898 – 28 January 1945) was a 1919 West Point graduate who commanded a regiment in the Philippines during World War II but died after he was wounded during an attack on his Japanese POW transport ship by Allied forces on 9 January 1945.