The Imperial War Museum London will be opening its first major permanent gallery for ten years when the Lord Ashcroft Gallery opens in November.

The new gallery, paid for by a £5m donation from Lord Ashcroft, KCMG, will house the Extraordinary Heroes exhibition containing the world's largest collection of Victoria Crosses (VCs), which has been established by Lord Ashcroft since 1986. The 162 awards, which range from the Crimean to the Falklands Wars, will go on public display for the first time alongside 48 VCs and 31 George Crosses (GCs) already held by the museum. Visitors will be able to discover the personal stories behind each decoration in a state-of-the-art new space filled with interactive touch-screens, multimedia platforms and original interpretation.

Alongside the award groups in the gallery will be many objects on display for the first time, including the extensively damaged backpack worn by Lance Corporal Matt Croucher GC in an incident in Afghanistan in 2008, and the diving suit worn by Acting Leading Seaman James Magennis in a VC action in the Johore Straits in World War II. To mark the opening of the gallery, the museum has also commissioned new works for its collections. Among them is a portrait by war photographer Don McCullin of Private Johnson Beharry VC, whose series of actions included moving his column out of an ambush and carrying wounded comrades to safety in Iraq in 2004.

The 241 VC and GC decorations featured in the gallery will be arranged by seven different qualities - leadership, sacrifice, aggression, skill, initiative, endurance, and boldness - in a move designed to encourage visitors into examining an individual's reaction to the difficult decisions behind their feat of bravery.