Former White House employee remembers 9/11 attacks, Bush's visit to ground zero

Everyone who lived through the Sept. 11 attacks 25 years ago has a different perspective on how Americans' lives changed forever.

For instance, Robert Favela served on the Presidential Food Service staff at the White House during that time.

"As I'm talking to my wife then all of a sudden the second plane hits," Favela said.

When he realized the United States was under a terrorist attack he rushed to work.

"I lived in Arlington, so I stopped and was pumping gas. I heard the plane hit the Pentagon," he recalled.

Favela said one of the most heavily guards places in the world went into lockdown.

"We were contingency operations. We were taking care of everybody that reported back to the White House and everybody that stayed there," he said. "We changed the way we did operations at the White House."

Three days after the attacks, Favela traveled with President George W. Bush to ground zero in New York City.

"It was a war zone at that point, and that's how we treated it," Favela said. "A lot of the people were still trying to get people out and figure out if there was still people under rubble. You smelled death. You smelled burning and that's seared in my memory. That is a day I will always remember."

He said he witnessed a pivotal moment in Bush's presidency when a rescue worker called out to him stating he couldn't hear the president address the crowd.

"I can hear you," Bush yelled back through a megaphone.

Favela says the moment reshaped Bush's role as commander in chief.

"The rest of the world hears you, and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon," Bush continued saying.

Favela now works as director of facility operations at the George W. Bush Presidential Center.

"The people there knew that he had their back, and he was going to do something about it," he said.

"He kept his composure," Favela added. "He was the leader we needed, and he never wavered."