Abbyville ? Sgt. Maj. Mike Hughes returned to his cot after a long day of dealing with the debris from the terrorist attacks on New York’s World Trade Center and found a small note and drawing sent to him by a little Kansas boy.

“I picked it up, read it, looked at the drawing of the plane crashing into the trade center, and it just hit me,” Hughes said. “It was just a real nice note from a kid, and it really hit home. So I kept it with me for the entire seven weeks I was there.”

That note came from Hunter Basye, then a second-grader at Fairfield East Elementary School, where teacher Betsy Trembley organized a letter-writing campaign to show appreciation to those most affected by the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Hughes, of Egg Harbor, N.J., and Hunter, now in fourth grade, finally came face to face Thursday when the now-retired Army National Guard officer and his wife, Joan, made a surprise visit to the school.

“We had to get back here,” Hughes said. “We’ve been wanting to do this ever since the first holidays after 9-11, but it didn’t work out.”

Hughes ran an operations center atop the Staten Island Landfill, where the wreckage from the World Trade Center was taken. His Guard unit also provided food and water at the cleanup site for FBI officials, police and firefighters.

“After our shift ended, we’d go back to this gymnasium where they’d have our beds made,” Hughes said. “Every night, there’d be candy and these notes that kids would send in.”

Although Hunter’s letter had his name, it lacked an area code with the phone number — and the state where Fairfield East Elementary School was located.

Hughes’ wife, Joan, spent four hours on the Internet to find Hunter. A phone call to the school resulted in a nearly three-year relationship be-tween Hughes and the school.

Another student, Tate Gordon, sent Hughes a money clip for his retirement. Thursday, Tate was in awe that Hughes and his wife had shown up to visit their class.

“It’s important, I mean, all the work he did,” Tate said. “I like to write to him to tell him what I’m doing. Then he can tell me what he’s doing. I think I’ll always write to him.”