A rendering of the Eisenhower Memorial’s interactive app.

For a moment, put aside the fact that a seemingly intractable conflict between the commission charged with building the Frank Gehry-designed Eisenhower Memorial and Eisenhower’s family means that the memorial’s future remains up in the air. Done? OK.

Yesterday the commission announced that when—and if—the memorial is built, it will be the first memorial of its kind to include interactive electronic features accessible via your smart phone. In essence, said the commission, it will be the city’s first e-memorial:

The National Eisenhower Memorial will be the first national presidential memorial of the 21st Century and the first to incorporate an electronic companion memorial. The Commission has selected New York City-based, award-winning media design firm Local Projects to design the E-Memorial.

The E-Memorial will serve as a fully integrated, interactive tool to bring Eisenhower’s dynamic and diverse legacy to both visitors and non-visitors alike. Through dramatic storytelling, nuanced interactivity, ties to contemporary figures, and social learning experiences, the E-Memorial will not only teach visitors of Eisenhower’s legacy, but also engage and enthrall audiences. The E-Memorial will contextualize Eisenhower’s impact within the physical memorial’s tapestry, the Kansas landscape, thereby truly demonstrating why his memory requires a memorial.

The E-Memorial will be completed and dedicated with the physical memorial on Memorial Day 2015.

The idea is simple enough—you download a free app that allows you to access historical footage and speeches as you walk through the physical memorial. So as you get to the part of the memorial commemorating Eisenhower’s role in World War II, your smart phone’s camera will prompt the app to draw up Ike’s famous D-Day speech to U.S. troops.

The app will cost $2 million to develop; the entire memorial is slated to cost $142 million.