Đỗ Kế Giai (6 June 1929 – 21 February 2016) was a South Vietnamese major general who led the 18th Division of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN).

In 1949, he graduated from the Nguyen Dinh Chieu High School in Mỹ Tho with a partial Baccalauréat (Part I).

In June 1951 he enlisted in the French Union Army and attended the 5th course Hoang Dieu at the Dalat Military Academy.

In August 1963, he attended the United States Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

The senior South Vietnamese military junta generals had repeatedly agreed on the need to replace them, but, for political reasons, had taken no action.

II Field Force, Vietnam commander Lt. Gen. Walter T. Kerwin Jr. appealed to COMUSMACV General Creighton Abrams for help, and the MACV commander reportedly "raised hell" with President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu over the matter, but Thiệu, perhaps feeling safer with old friends like Giai around the capital to keep a watch on his rivals, did nothing.