The Second Battalion of the 327th Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division were commanded by Lt. Col. Joseph Wasco of Trenton. Their task was to find the North Vietnamese troops that had surrounded Trung Luong because they were scared that they would take the U.S. Special Forces base near Dong Tre.
At the Battle of Trung Luong, Liddell was assigned to be in the A Company. There at the battle, Wasco thought that he was up against about 300 men but what he did not know was that there were about 3000-4000 men dug in around Trung Luong that he could not see. At 8:30 am on the morning of June 20, Alpha Commander Capt. Tom Furguson, Liddell and the rest of the Alpha Company received an urgent call from Wasco telling them to move west to Trung Luong to help the Charlie Company that was under attack. Furguson sent one of his troop members down to check out the area.
It came back that the area was clear, so the troop moved up to a place called Hill 48, the member kept surveying the area until they noticed that he had disappeared. Then they were under attack. They got out after many casualties but came to the conclusion that they had to go back in to help the Charlie Company who were still under fire. The Alpha Company continued back and forth into Trung Luong 2 more times until the village was empty and there were many casualties.
Liddell died in the third trip back into Trung Luong. Liddell was killed in a ground casualty by multiple fragmentation wounds.