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.

GEOFF BENNETT: What followed was a grueling recovery, one the "News Hour" chronicled at the time.

Shaeffer was rushed to the Walter Reed Medical Center initially and then treated for months in the burn unit at the Washington Hospital Center.

Shaeffer suffered second- and third-degree burns over nearly 50 percent of his body, along with severe lung damage from smoke and jet fuel.

He spent months in the hospital, much of that time on a ventilator, underwent nearly 20 operations and skin grafts, and twice came close to dying when his heart stopped.

LT.

KEVIN SHAEFFER (RET.

): I think I kind of knew that it wasn't my time, and I had to keep moving, and I had to find a way out.

GEOFF BENNETT: After he gained strength and mobility, Shaeffer returned to public service.

He was awarded the Purple Heart and became a staff member of the 9/11 Commission, helping investigate the attacks that nearly killed him.

Then, in 2007, Shaeffer joined the CIA, eventually becoming part of the team hunting the man who orchestrated the attacks, Osama bin Laden.

In the years since he retired, Shaeffer has become a motivational speaker, reminding Americans about the meaning and importance of September 11.

And Kevin Shaeffer joins us now.

Welcome to the "News Hour."

LT.

KEVIN SHAEFFER (RET.

): Thank you.

It's a pleasure and honor to be here.

GEOFF BENNETT: Twenty-five years later, does September 11 feel differently to you now?

LT.

KEVIN SHAEFFER (RET.

): It does.

There's so much ground that's been covered since 9/11.

In many ways, it's visceral, the memories of that day, what I personally went through, what we went through as a nation, but also all of the reflections and memories of what we have been through since.

So, in that way, it's distinctly different.

And I think, on the 25th year mark, it's time to reflect and look back over those years with a special eye.

GEOFF BENNETT: And you have said that you don't want people to forget what happened on that day.

With every milestone anniversary, it means there are more Americans who weren't even alive on September 11.

What do you want the younger generation to know about that day and all that came after?

LT.

KEVIN SHAEFFER (RET.

): Well, I personally often speak of never forgetting, and that's the mantra of our 9/11 generation is never forget.

Never forget what happened to us that day, and keeping the honor and memories of those lost in our forefront, and also remembering the loved ones who they left behind.

It's very hard to say never forget to a generation that wasn't born on 9/11 or was too young to ever remember it in the first place.

So we face those challenges.

And I think, thankfully, this year, I'm feeling a very tangible sense that many across the nation are making it a mission to make sure that we in the future take that as a serious challenge and want to overcome, that we never forget 9/11 and learn the lessons from it, but also really deeply share the meaning of it for future generations.

GEOFF BENNETT: If I may ask, what do you remember in the first moments after Flight 77 hit the Pentagon?

LT.

KEVIN SHAEFFER (RET.

): My immediate reaction was, I knew it was a coordinated attack.

My command center, the Navy Command Center in the Pentagon, had been closely watching, like millions of Americans and millions around the world, the tragedies unfolding in New York.

We were watching on TV in the Navy Command Center.

And so we, watching those horrors unfold, knew that it was a terrorist attack, like everyone did, but never suspected that the Pentagon fortress would be at risk.

In the moment of impact, I was amazingly able to stay conscious, even though I was critically burned.

And - - but, in that moment, I thought, this is a coordinated attack.

My mind quickly shifted to survival, and I had to fight and escape to space.

GEOFF BENNETT: And your wife was active duty at the time as well.

LT.

KEVIN SHAEFFER (RET.

): Yes, my wife, Blanca, was an active duty Navy lieutenant.

She was out of town, did not know where I worked in the building, as most don't.

She was worried about me and didn't get word on my condition until later that evening.

GEOFF BENNETT: And by the time you got to Walter Reed, there was a nurse that you overheard say that you had a 50/50 chance of surviving.

What do you remember about that moment?

LT.

KEVIN SHAEFFER (RET.

): I had been taken to Walter Reed, the original Army hospital, downtown Washington, D.C., and it was a harrowing journey to get there.

And I remember saying all along the way to Sergeant 1st Class Steve Workman, who helped save my life there, that: "I'm alive.

I'm alive."

And so I knew how important it was to have made it through the impact and made it out of that space.

When I heard someone say 50 percent, 50/50 chance, it made me so angry, I grabbed the nurse who I thought had said that kind of pulled her up on the gurney and read her a little bit of a riot act, telling her: "No, I'm alive, I'm alive."

And they calmed me down, got her off of me, and she kind of went away.

And they then turned their focus and attention to pulling and tugging at my rings that I wore on my left hand and my right hand, my wedding band and my class ring.

And they were causing me great pain.

And I heard in that moment someone yell out for the ring cutters.

And that also made me mad, and I yelled out: "Stop, stop, and they froze."

And really with all the strength that I could muster in that moment, I took off my wedding band on my left hand and my Naval Academy class ring on my right hand, and I handed them over to a near nurse nearby.

And I said, OK, to myself, now they can get on with saving my life.

And that was in my last memory of 9/11.

GEOFF BENNETT: Do you have a sense of where your resilience comes from?

You have endured catastrophic injuries, months of treatment, and then you ultimately returned to public service.

LT.

KEVIN SHAEFFER (RET.

): It comes from love.

It comes from being loved and supported and loving others.

I love my wife dearly, my family.

It comes from a love of this nation, of our country, wanting to serve our country and having that deep sense of service when I was young, and it led me to the Naval Academy and pursuing a life of service in the Navy.

GEOFF BENNETT: Yes.

And, after all of this, you joined the 9/11 Commission and later the intelligence effort to find Osama bin Laden.

What can you tell us about that yearslong effort to locate him?

LT.

KEVIN SHAEFFER (RET.

): In many ways, I compare it to a marathon, a long marathon.

There were many runners in that marathon at various mile markers, great patriots, incredible professionals, full of courage, full of competency, full of determination and grit to see that mission through.

There were ups and downs, for sure.

There were failures and some successes.

And, ultimately, I feel thankful for being a runner along those last final mile markers in that marathon.

GEOFF BENNETT: In that moment you learned that bin Laden had been found and killed, how did that -- how did that strike you?

LT.

KEVIN SHAEFFER (RET.

): In that moment, there was definitely a deep sense of closure for me.

It was not something that I wore on my sleeve, but it was an inner drive that kept me very much in the fight and kept me motivated.

GEOFF BENNETT: Twenty-five years later, how much of September 11 do you carry physically?

How much of it do you carry emotionally?

LT.

KEVIN SHAEFFER (RET.

): I like to say that 9/11 is forever burned in the memory of our nation, or at least I hope it is and will be.

It's also quite literally burned into me.

I carry the scars of that day.

It was burned on nearly 50 percent of my body, second-, third-degree burns, deep inhalation injuries.

But I don't carry the physical detriment of that today.

I'm all about the best case.

I'm all about the optimism.

And so I have I have moved forward in my life every year since with that optimism and strength and trying to give that to others as well.

GEOFF BENNETT: Have you thought about how you might feel when you're at the Pentagon tomorrow?

LT.

KEVIN SHAEFFER (RET.

): There's going to be a lot of reflection.

There's going to be a lot of remembering.

There's going to be honor given to those who lost their lives there.

There's going to be love extended to the family members who have been suffering all of these years.

And we're together as a community.

We will be together at the Pentagon, we will be together in New York City, and we will be together in that field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, each different, but each special and -- in our way in our generation, and we will be together on 9/11.

GEOFF BENNETT: Retired Navy Lieutenant Kevin Shaeffer, thank you for your time this evening, and thank you for your service to our nation.

LT.

KEVIN SHAEFFER (RET.

): Thank you very much.