För tapperhet i fält För tapperhet i fält ( " For Valour in the Field " ) and För tapperhet till sjöss ( " For Valour at Sea " ) are two Swedish military medal s awarded to officers and soldiers of the Swedish Armed Forces who have — as the medal names suggest — shown valour in the field or at sea in wartime . These two medals , along with the various grades of the Order of the Sword , are the only awards in Sweden that have the designation " Swedish war decorations " ( " Svenska krigsdekorationer " ) . The medal was instituted by Gustav III on 28 May 1789 , during his war against Russia and was meant to complement the Order of the Sword — which was instituted on 23 February 1748 and was awarded for the same purpose — valour in the field or at sea — but only to officer s . The original award was in silver and was intended for non - commissioned officer s and private s only , but a version in gold was introduced in 1806 , available only for higher - ranking officers . By royal letters on 24 March 1807 and 10 June 1809 , it was decided that two different decorations be instituted , " För tapperhet i fält " ( abbreviation Mtf ) for valour in the field , and " För tapperhet till sjöss " ( Mts ) for valour at sea . Each of the two awards has a variant i gold ( prefix G , for example GMtf ) for officers and a variant in silver ( prefix S , for example SMts ) for NCOs and privates . The design is simple , a round medal , modern size 8 of the Swedish medal scale of 1773 , called " Mensura magnitudinis Nummorum " , which is equal to a diameter of 31 mm . The obverse side shows the name of the medal , " " or " " ( or for older medals " " ) , encircled by a wreath . The reverse side has since 1809 been decorated by the symbol of the Order of the Sword . Before that , the reverse carried a picture of Gustav III and the text ( " Gustav III King of Sweden " ) . A band in blue and yellow has been issued with the awards since 1819 . " De jure " , the medal is still active and can be awarded to any Swedish soldier as the only still available war decoration , since the Order of the Sword — along with the three other Swedish orders — was made unavailable for Swedish citizens as of 1 January 1975 according to Swedish law . However nobody has been awarded either of the two medals since 1915 , when the last medal was issued to an officer serving with the Swedish Gendarmerie of Persia . Sweden has not been in a state of war since 1814 , but the medal was awarded a few times between 1814 and 1915 nevertheless . Besides the previous mention , the medal was awarded another four times under the rule of Gustav V whose reign started in 1907 , and it was also awarded in 1899 to at least one of the Swedish volunteers in the Second Boer War . There has been some controversy regarding the fact that the medal has not been awarded since 1915 . It has been argued that some of the Swedish soldiers that have served abroad on international missions should have been awarded the medal . One example is Furir Torsten Stålnacke who served with the United Nations in the Congo Crisis where he during a firefight got his lower jaw blown away by a bullet , but still managed to drag and carry two of his chocked comrades as well as his Carl Gustav recoilless rifle into safety . He was not awarded the medal as the Swedish Armed Forces at the time only wanted to award the medal if Sweden was in a state of war , which they were not . This however is contrary to what had been done in the cases mentioned above , as Sweden was neutral during both the Second Boer War and under Gustav V ' s reign , when five medals were awarded .