Reluctant Hero: A 9/11 Survivor Speaks Out About That Unthinkable Day, What He's Learned, How He's Struggled, and What No One Should Ever ForgetOn Tuesday, September 11, 2001, Michael Benfante went to work, just like he had day after day, at his office on eighty first floor in the World Trade Center North Tower. Moments after the first plane struck, just twelve floors above him, Benfante organized his terrified employees, getting them out the office and moving down the stairwells. On his way down, he and another co worker encountered a woman in a wheelchair on the sixty eighth floor.