On 9/11, retired Navy Lt. Kevin Shaeffer was one of the few people in the Pentagon's Navy Command Center to survive the attack. Geoff Bennett spoke with Shaeffer about what he experienced on that day and the 25 years since. Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors.
Geoff Bennett:
Now two reflections on the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, starting with the story of one survivor.Twenty-five years ago, Navy Lieutenant Kevin Shaeffer was one of the few people to survive the attack in the Navy Command Center of the Pentagon. Shaeffer and his colleagues were watching the attacks on the World Trade Center on television when American Airlines Flight 77 slammed into the building, engulfing their section in a fireball.The attack on the Pentagon killed 184 people, 59 aboard the airplane, and 125 inside the building. Badly burned and struggling to breathe, Shaeffer crawled through the smoke and debris and began heading toward this hole blown out in the outer rings of the building.That's when Army Sergeant 1st Class Steve Workman heard his calls for help, placed him on top of a maintenance cart, and wheeled him to one of the first ambulances to arrive.Lt. Kevin Shaeffer (Ret.), U.S. Navy: It was quite -- quite terrifying. It was black. I was knocked down. Knew I was on fire.
