The new US$15.5m George H.W. Bush Gallery at the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, Texas has been opened by the former US President it was named after.

The 32,500sq ft expansion boasts multimedia presentations and artefacts including a Japanese mini-submarine, fighter planes, various tanks and a dive bomber.

Exhibits focus on the Pearl Harbour attack and famous battles such as Midway, Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima and Okinawa, as well as the atom bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

CBS News quoted George Bush Snr, who was a naval aviator during the war, as saying: "It is right and important that we honour the genuine valour of men and women who throughout our history have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country, for the cause of freedom and perhaps most of all, for each other.

"It's in the act of telling the full story of war, the heroism, the moral justice of a cause, as well as the great suffering that makes this remarkable museum such a special place and a vital contribution to our country."

The museum is managed by Nimitz Foundation.