Bui Van Khoi was born in 1928 in the district of Lam Thao in Phu Tho. He was active at the commune and district levels, participating in his commune’s people’s guerrilla team and becoming a political commissar (chinh tri vien xa) in 1947. He was also a teacher in binh dan hoc vu classes and worked in propaganda-training (tuyen huan) at the district level from 1952 to 1954.