Within his heart he could feel faint yearnings to become an artist. In 1940, he tested into the five-year Chiayi Agriculture and Forestry Public School. As World War II escalated in Southeast Asia, the Japanese began recruiting Taiwanese volunteers for their armed forces.
1940 年，郭東榮考入 5 年制嘉義農林學校農科，隨著大東亞戰爭轉趨激烈，日人自 1942 年開始在台招募志願軍，青年學子則被發派為學生兵。