A transgender Air Force veteran who helped fellow vets overcome their own suicidal struggles wrote 'I tried' on Facebook before killing herself, it has been revealed.
Jess Shipps, of Hampton, Virginia, was found dead on Tuesday, two years after leaving the military to pursue a life as a woman.
Her last note on Facebook - written the same day as her death - was revealed as friends remembered her work with other LGBT servicemen and women battling their own demons.
Jess Shipps (pictured), who saved 'countless lives' by helping fellow LGBT veterans, took her own life on Tuesday
The 32-year-old, pictured as a man, left the military in 2013 having spent the last two years of her service teaching photography and video in the US
The 32-year-old had served for 10 years helping to repatriate troops killed in Laos, Vietnam and New Guinea to allow their families to hold funerals, according to the New York Daily News.
But she left in 2013 having spent the last two years of her service teaching photography and video in the US.
According to her friend Army Sergeant Shane Ortega, a transgender man, she left 'because she couldn't be who she was and couldn't tolerate living this double life'.
Posting on his blog he said: 'I am horrified to say that Jess Shipps has passed away. She was a transgender military veteran of the United States Air Force.
'She took her own life due to the struggles very often faced by transgender women - especially veterans. I had been friends with her for two years and her story is one I shared oftentimes.'
He added that 'certain people received a goodbye letter from Shipps'.
Shipps, who leaves a wife she married before transitioning, was known for helping fellow LGBT veterans and soldiers.
Shipps shared videos of her transformation on YouTube. Here she is seen applying make-up and doing her hair
Transformed: Shipps, of Hampton, Virginia, looking fresh-faced having done her hair and make-up
Under current Department of Defense rules, transgender people are barred from military service.
Christopher Hooper, of SPART*A, an advocacy group for LGBT people, told the Daily News: 'She was a go-to person for anyone that was feeling suicidal. If somebody needed someone to talk to, Jess is who we trusted.
'Jess leaves behind a great legacy. The countless number of lives she saved is a testimony to her strength and will.'
Stills from a video she shared on YouTube which shows her journey to becoming a woman, pictured right, from a man, pictured left
On Sparta - An LGBT Military Organization's Facebook page it posted: 'It is with the heaviest of hearts that I announce to you today the loss of a great SPARTAn.
'Her name was Jess Shipps. Jess took her own life this morning. She served honorably in the United States Air Force.
'She decided to get out of the Air Force due to being Transgender at the end of her contract and began to transition.
'Jess was full of life and was a leader in our organization. She really was a talented and amazing person whom we got to know.
'She was more than a member, she was family. She was our sister. She has helped many of our members and for that we all stand together today as one in mourning her loss.'
Jess shared videos online of her transition from a man to a woman. She often filmed herself driving in her car
She also reached out to others through online trans communities on Reddit and on YouTube.
Her videos were often shot in her car and some spoke about her struggle to suppress her female identity while others focused on what she had done that day.
Her most popular video, which has had over 30,000 views, tells the story of 'before and after' beginning at the start of her transition.
'Lost too soon': A number of tributes were paid to Jess on social media, pictured above
In it she explains that when she was younger 'because of the media at the time I never thought I could ever embrace [being trans] or that this would ever be a possibility for me, so I just let it be'.
She adds that it has helped her by 'finding a trans community locally and online', and 'realiz[ing] that this goal is not that far out of reach'.
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