A small piece of New Glarus history recently surfaced in an unlikely place: an online auction listing. It was a 5-cent drink chip from a long forgotten New Glarus establishment called Walt’s Tavern.

The token is modest, the kind of object that could easily be overlooked. But the name stamped into it leads back to Walter R. “Walt” Wenger, a World War II bomber pilot, prisoner of war, New Glarus tavern owner, businessman and civic leader whose life after the war became deeply tied to the community.

Walt’s Tavern operated in New Glarus from 1945 to 1955. By then, Wenger’s ties to the community were already personal. He was married to Ruth Ziltner of New Glarus before the war, and after returning from combat and captivity, the tavern became part of his first postwar chapter — a civilian life built close to family, community and the place he would call home.

Eighty-two years ago, on July 7, 1944, however, Wenger was not behind a bar in New Glarus. He was a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army Air Forces and the pilot of a B-24J Liberator flying out of San Giovanni Airfield in southern Italy.