diff --git a/debug/org.eclipse.cdt.debug.ui/ChangeLog b/debug/org.eclipse.cdt.debug.ui/ChangeLog
index e96718282f7..09f2c3a9f3d 100644
--- a/debug/org.eclipse.cdt.debug.ui/ChangeLog
+++ b/debug/org.eclipse.cdt.debug.ui/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2003-05-29 Mikhail Khodjaiants
+	PR 38268: added the image cache for overlay images.
+	* OverlayImageCache.java: new
+	* CDTDebugModelPresentation.java
+
 2003-05-29 Mikhail Khodjaiants
 	Changed the vizualization of arrays and structures.
 	* CDTDebugModelPresentation.java
diff --git a/debug/org.eclipse.cdt.debug.ui/src/org/eclipse/cdt/debug/internal/ui/CDTDebugModelPresentation.java b/debug/org.eclipse.cdt.debug.ui/src/org/eclipse/cdt/debug/internal/ui/CDTDebugModelPresentation.java
index 2f2b3216e14..37eff8fabba 100644
--- a/debug/org.eclipse.cdt.debug.ui/src/org/eclipse/cdt/debug/internal/ui/CDTDebugModelPresentation.java
+++ b/debug/org.eclipse.cdt.debug.ui/src/org/eclipse/cdt/debug/internal/ui/CDTDebugModelPresentation.java
@@ -100,6 +100,8 @@ public class CDTDebugModelPresentation extends LabelProvider
 
 	private static CDTDebugModelPresentation fInstance = null;
 
+	private OverlayImageCache fImageCache = new OverlayImageCache();
+
 	/**
 	 * Constructor for CDTDebugModelPresentation.
 	 */
@@ -218,8 +220,7 @@ public class CDTDebugModelPresentation extends LabelProvider
 						break;
 				}
 			}
-			OverlayImageDescriptor overlayImage = new OverlayImageDescriptor( baseImage, overlays );
-			return overlayImage.createImage();
+			return fImageCache.getImageFor( new OverlayImageDescriptor( baseImage, overlays ) );
 		}
 		return null;
 	}
@@ -627,8 +628,7 @@ public class CDTDebugModelPresentation extends LabelProvider
 			descriptor = DebugUITools.getImageDescriptor( IDebugUIConstants.IMG_OBJS_BREAKPOINT_DISABLED );
 		}
 		;
-		OverlayImageDescriptor overlayImage = new OverlayImageDescriptor( fDebugImageRegistry.get( descriptor ), computeBreakpointOverlays( breakpoint ) );
-		return overlayImage.createImage();
+		return fImageCache.getImageFor( new OverlayImageDescriptor( fDebugImageRegistry.get( descriptor ), computeBreakpointOverlays( breakpoint ) ) );
 	}
 
 	protected Image getWatchpointImage( ICWatchpoint watchpoint ) throws CoreException
@@ -652,8 +652,7 @@ public class CDTDebugModelPresentation extends LabelProvider
 			else
 				descriptor = CDebugImages.DESC_OBJS_WATCHPOINT_DISABLED;
 		}
-		OverlayImageDescriptor overlayImage = new OverlayImageDescriptor( fDebugImageRegistry.get( descriptor ), computeBreakpointOverlays( watchpoint ) );
-		return overlayImage.createImage();
+		return fImageCache.getImageFor( new OverlayImageDescriptor( fDebugImageRegistry.get( descriptor ), computeBreakpointOverlays( watchpoint ) ) );
 	}
 
 	protected IBreakpoint getBreakpoint( IMarker marker )
@@ -931,4 +930,12 @@ public class CDTDebugModelPresentation extends LabelProvider
 		}
 		return type;
 	}
+
+	/* (non-Javadoc)
+	 * @see org.eclipse.jface.viewers.IBaseLabelProvider#dispose()
+	 */
+	public void dispose()
+	{
+		fImageCache.disposeAll();
+	}
 }
diff --git a/debug/org.eclipse.cdt.debug.ui/src/org/eclipse/cdt/debug/internal/ui/OverlayImageCache.java b/debug/org.eclipse.cdt.debug.ui/src/org/eclipse/cdt/debug/internal/ui/OverlayImageCache.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..cd8374870d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/debug/org.eclipse.cdt.debug.ui/src/org/eclipse/cdt/debug/internal/ui/OverlayImageCache.java
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+/*
+ *(c) Copyright QNX Software Systems Ltd. 2002.
+ * All Rights Reserved.
+ * 
+ */
+
+package org.eclipse.cdt.debug.internal.ui;
+
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.Iterator;
+import java.util.Map;
+
+import org.eclipse.swt.graphics.Image;
+
+/**
+ * Maintains a cache of overlay images.
+ * 
+ * @since May 30, 2003
+ */
+public class OverlayImageCache
+{
+	private Map cache = new HashMap();
+
+	/**
+	 * Returns and caches an image corresponding to the specified image descriptor.
+	 * 
+	 * @param imageDecsriptor the image descriptor 
+	 * @return the image
+	 */
+	public Image getImageFor( OverlayImageDescriptor imageDescriptor )
+	{
+		Image image = (Image)cache.get( imageDescriptor );
+		if ( image == null )
+		{
+			image = imageDescriptor.createImage();
+			cache.put( imageDescriptor, image );
+		}
+		return image;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Disposes of all images in the cache.
+	 */
+	public void disposeAll()
+	{
+		for ( Iterator it = cache.values().iterator(); it.hasNext(); )
+		{
+			Image image = (Image)it.next();
+			image.dispose();
+		}
+		cache.clear();
+	}
+}