Joe Dawson was raised in a typical American home after the second world war. His father was a GI that served in Europe and fought against the Nazis. Joe was born in 1948 in Chicago. He had a sister who was born 2 years later.
He was the all around athlete while in high school, i.e. captain of his football team, etc. and after graduation he enlisted in the Marines. He saw active combat in Viet Nam. After seeing the horrors of war, young Joe was taken under the wing of his commander, Andrew Cord. After a VC attack left Cord dead, Joe was the victim of a land mine that damaged his legs badly. Barely alive, the young Marine was brought to safety by Cord himself.
While in the hospital recovering from his wounds and the removal of his legs, he still swore that Cord saved his life. The others in his unit told him that he was out of his mind. Only one man, a Brit named Ian Bancroft, came to see him.
Bancroft told Joe about immortals and that Cord was an immortal. Bancroft invited the young man to become a part of an organization that observes immortals and their activity and never interferes.
That was to be the beginning of a long career with this organization.
After the death of his immortal, Joe was reassigned to Duncan MacLeod. He watched MacLeod successfully and anonymous until one day, his brother in law, former Green Beret Colonel James Horton began to hunt and kill immortals. By killing Darius, Horton pushed MacLeod into circumstances that eventually lead to his meeting with Dawson, and their eventual cooperation in putting a stop to hunters.
Dawson believes in the innate goodness and the character of Duncan MacLeod. He's been at odds with the hierarchy of the watchers in regard to his close personal relationship with Duncan MacLeod, but he maintains the tie and is very proud to call him friend.
Through this friendship he has also come to be friends with Amanda and Richie.
Dawson had been in contact with a watcher researcher named Adam Pierson. Pierson was researching facts concerning Methos, supposedly the world's oldest immortal. When the Kalas incident arose, Dawson sent MacLeod to meet with Pierson, and was later to find out that Pierson was an immortal, and not just any immortal but Methos.
Siding with Dawson during the Hunter episode, and his continued association with Dawson and MacLeod put Watcher Pierson on shaky ground within the organization. When circumstances presented themselves and Adam Pierson died at a watcher compound, it was Dawson who convinced his organization that Adam was a new immortal and that he was not a threat to the Watchers.
As the plague broke out, Joe was called to Denver for an emergency division meeting to try to determine how the watchers could survive and continue with their mission, as it was apparent that immortals were going to be around once the plague ran its course.
